The new slate of conference play for North Texas (17-4, 1-0 C-USA) softball was highlighted offensively in the 6-2 win with junior utility player Kourtney Williams and freshmen infielders Candain Callahan and Saleen Donohoe each having three hits in the game combining for five RBI’s. Texas-San Antonio (13-9, 0-1 C-USA) fell victim to ten strikeouts by junior Mean Green pitcher Hope Trautwein in her complete-game performance winning her 10th game of the season.
“Those kids are really talented and think we’re going to see a lot of that in the future,” head coach Rodney DeLong said. “It was good to see them have a really good day today especially in a conference game.”
Coming away with wins against Abilene Christian (7-15, 0-1 Southland) twice and No. 5 Oklahoma (18-4) over the weekend of Feb. 28, North Texas looked to continue Friday night’s matchup keeping the same intensity.
The Mean Green offense reached the board in the top of the second inning on a Williams RBI single plating home sophomore first baseman Tayla Evans. The following at-bat for North Texas in the top half of the third resulted in Donohoe singling home Callahan to go up 2-0.
Through her first three innings pitched, Trautwein pitched two batters over the minimum keeping the Roadrunners scoreless. Texas-Arlington mustered a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on a two-run home run by Taylor Medina to knot things at 2-2. Trautwein struck the next two hitters to close out the inning.
North Texas responded in their next offensive opportunity in the top of the fifth inning with a Donohoe two-run round-tripper driving in junior outfielder Tarah Hilton to regain a 4-2 lead.
“As soon as I got into the box knowing the game was tied, I knew I had to give us some life,” Donohoe said. “As soon as I hit it I felt so excited and it was good to get the team back up.”
The offense padded on their two-run lead in the top of the seventh with Donohoe’s second home run of the game making it a 5-2 game.
A two-out rally in the seventh for North Texas began with consecutive hits by Williams and senior infielder Lacy Gregory put a runner in scoring position for Callahan at the plate who had two hits in the game up that point. Callahan cashed in on an RBI single bringing home Williams to give North Texas their largest lead of the night at 6-2 heading into the final frame.
Trautwein in the bottom of the seventh inning shut down the Roadrunners in order to seal the win, where she retired 11 straight Texas-San Antonio batters to finalize the game.
Donohoe led North Texas offensively on the night after hitting 3-for-4 and three RBI’s, she is now tied with senior outfielder Hanna Rebar for the team-lead in home runs at five on the season. Williams and Callahan each went 3/3 with an RBI in the win.
In her seven innings pitched, Trautwein struck out 10, allowed four hits and two walks where she advances to 10-1 on the year.
“It was a good win, we were pressing a little early,” DeLong said. “We left some runners on base but did what we needed to do to get a win. Hopefully we’ll relax and be able to hit a little better tomorrow.”
UP NEXT: North Texas continues their series in San Antonio against the Roadrunners with games at 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Featured Image: Senior outfielder Hanna Rebar hits the ball during the bottom of the first against UT Arlington on Feb. 25, 2020. Image by Zachary Thomas
Article Originally Published by on North Texas Daily
Source: North Texas Daily
