UNT Softball Sweeps Middle Tennessee

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DENTON, Texas (3/18/12) – Behind a five-run sixth inning, the North Texas softball team defeated Middle Tennessee, 7-3, and swept the conference series on Sunday afternoon at Lovelace Stadium.

The Mean Green (11-14, 3-3) went 3-0 against the Blue Raiders. Middle Tennessee falls to 7-13 and 0-3 with the loss.

North Texas lost an early lead and needed the big sixth inning to secure the sweep. Lisa Johnson and Maddelyn Fraley supplied five of the Mean Green’s seven hits in the game.

Down 3-2, Megan Rupp tied the game for North Texas in the sixth with a RBI single to left field. Johnson scored after leading off the inning with a walk. Jordan Terry drew a bases-loaded pinch-hit walk to score the winning run, and Lesley Hirsch cleared the bases with a three-RBI triple to add insurance runs.

Ashley Kirk (2-7) picked up the win in relief. She pitched 1.2 innings and allowed three hits. Brittany Simmons started the game and allowed one earned run off six hits in 5.1 innings of work.

Johnson jump-started the offense with a single in the fourth. Fraley brought her home with a home run down the right field line to put the first runs on the scoreboard. It was her team-leading seventh home run of the season.

The Blue Raiders cut into the lead with an unearned run in the fifth and tied the game with a solo home run in the sixth. A bases-loaded hit-by-pitch gave MT its first lead of the game.

For the second straight game, North Texas engineered a comeback with clutch hitting in the late innings.

Middle Tennessee outhit the Mean Green, 9-7, in the game. The Blue Raiders stranded 12 batters.

Fraley went 3-for-4 in the game with two RBI. She batted .800 in the three-game series with five RBI. Johnson was 2-for-2 in the game with two runs scored and two walks. She and Fraley are tied for the team lead with 17 walks.

North Texas travels to Florida for the school’s spring break and faces Hartford and South Florida on Wednesday, March 21 in Tampa, Fl.