UNT Softball Sweeps Doubleheader
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Boca Raton, Fla. – Brittany Simmons pitched a complete-game shutout to lead the North Texas softball team to a 6-0 victory against FAU on Wednesday night at the FAU Softball Stadium. The Mean Green scored five runs in the eighth inning to take a 7-2 victory in the nightcap.
The opening Mean Green victory snapped FAU’s 10-game winning streak. North Texas (18-14, 6-4) takes the conference series against FAU (24-20, 7-5) with the doubleheader sweep. FAU opened the series with a 3-2 win on Tuesday.
North Texas shut out the Owls in the opening game but needed an eighth inning to seal the win in the nightcap. With the two wins, North Texas head coach T.J. Hubbard earned his 149th and 150th career victories.
Simmons had one of her best outings of the season in the opening win. She pitched seven innings and allowed no runs off four hits. It was her first complete-game shutout of the season.
Ashley Kirk (8-5) gave up two early runs but then shut down the Owls for the final six innings in
the nightcap. The junior pitched eight innings, gave up two runs off 10 hits and struck out seven.
North Texas outhit FAU, 8-4, in the first game, but the Owls had the advantage in the nightcap, 10-7.
In the opening game, North Texas scored two runs in the second inning to take the early lead. Bryana Wade knocked in the first run with a double to right field. Karly Williams brought home Wade with a single to center field for the second run.
A four-run fifth inning capped the win for the Mean Green. Brooke Foster and Lesley Hirsh hit back-to-back RBI singles, and Paige Kisling plated two runs with a base hit up the middle.
A double steal by North Texas scored the first run of the ballgame in the nightcap. Lesley Hirsch reached base with a walk, advanced to second on a flyout and then stole third base. With Kisling at the plate, Dani Hoff stole second, and Hirsch beat the throw home. Hirsch leads the team with 13 stolen bases.
FAU took the lead in the second inning with two runs off four hits and a Mean Green error.
Brooke Foster tied the game in the top of the third with a solo home run to center field. It was her fourth home run of the season. Foster’s home run was the Mean Green’s only hit through seven innings.
North Texas left the bases loaded in the sixth and then stranded a runner on third in the seventh before exploding for five runs off six hits and a walk in the eighth. Madison Thompson walked in the game-winning run with a bases-loaded walk. Sarah McGann, Foster, Jordan Terry and Hoff added insurance runs with RBI singles.
North Texas returns to action when it faces Louisiana-Lafayette at home on April 6-7.
