DENTON – North Texas softball opened its fall schedule with a 13-6 win over the Murray State College Aggies. Tayla Evans led the way offensively for North Texas with six RBI. The sophomore doubled home two runs in the first before doing the same in the fourth. She capped her night off with a two-run homer in the seventh
 
Kourtney Williams also homered a two-run shot in the third. North Texas used five pitchers throughout the 10-inning game. Hope Trautwein and Bailey Tindell each pitched three. Trautwein struck out five without giving up a hit. Freshman Ariel Thompson pitched two innings before making way for Lauren Craine. Craine exited to let Alabama State transfer Kailyn Berry close the ballgame for the Mean Green.

Craine had not pitched since May 7, 2017 at Florida who the top-ranked team in the country at the time. She couldn't help but find herself nervous in her return tonight.
 
"I mean, I was a little nervous going into it," Craine said. "It's just been so long but it felt awesome. I was excited because I knew they're giving me the opportunity to come back and I'm really thankful for that."
 
Head coach Rodney DeLong was ready to see his team in action in his second fall at the helm of the program. It was a special moment for him to see Craine return to action.
 
"She's such a gamer," DeLong said. "That's all I can say. Every time she gets an opportunity to do so she competes. She was just throwing one pitch today in her fastball, but she had a quick inning, hitting her spots. It's very promising. She's a kid who can really help us."
 
DeLong used 18 players in the game. Notably, newcomers Saleen Donohoe, Katie Dietrich, Toni Gonzalez, Candain Callahan, Tarah Hilton, and Payton Deaton saw action via at-bats and in the field. Donohoe and Gonzales both started.
 
Donohoe drove in a run in the first, scoring Lacy Gregory with a RBI single before coming around to score herself on Evans' 2-run double.
 
North Texas will play seven more fall games. The schedule continues Wednesday with a 6 p.m. game against North Central Texas College. The schedule concludes on October 30 against Grayson College at 3 p.m.
 
DeLong is excited to see the progress his team makes.
 
"All our new kids, I'm excited about them," DeLong said. "They showed a lot of promise today. There's definitely a lot of errors, we will get better. Our effort was good today and that's what we are excited about. Right now we just want to play hard, and the kids played hard today."