Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 COLLEGE STATION, TX – For the first time since 2009, Mean Green softball opens the season at a perfect 2-0. North Texas (2-0, 0-0) defeated the University of Northern Colorado 9-0 to start, and battled back to win a wild 12-inning thriller with California Baptist in walk-off fashion.
 
For first-year head coach Rodney DeLong, it is quite a way to start his tenure. The Mean Green battled frigid conditions, as light sleet fell throughout both games and the temperature hovering around freezing.
 
"You have to like the resolve they showed," DeLong said. "They fought. I was pleased with that effort. I didn't like how we came out [in game two]. We sat around too much and didn't start the game well. Overall, it was very good."
 
North Texas 9, Northern Colorado 0 (6)
 
The Mean Green got out front early and never looked back in game one. Three runs in the first, one in the second and three more in the third along with a dominant performance in the circle from sophomore Hope Trautwein had North Texas in prime position to win the game.
 
Trautwein battled the elements to go the distance for the complete game shutout. She finished with eight strikeouts while allowing just two hits and two walks. Junior Katie Clark drove home the decisive runs with a two-RBI single in the sixth, pushing the game into run rule territory.
 
"Everybody else has to play in this weather too," Trautwein said. "It's hard. But you have to remember that the other team is playing in this. You just have to adapt to it."
 
The Mean Green got its nine runs on just five hits. North Texas used 13 walks to get most of its base-runners. Seniors Harley Perella, Nicole Ochotnicki, Rhylie Makawe and freshman Tayla Evans each drew two.
 
North Texas 8, Cal Baptist 7 (12)
 
Double the length of game one, and stretching to nearly three and a half hours the Mean Green trailed two separate times in extra innings after conceding its four-run lead in the 7th. But North Texas battled, and finally got its break.
 
Up stepped junior Hanna Rebar who laced a single to left to win the game as the Mean Green poured out of the dugout to celebrate.
 
"She was throwing me change-ups all day," Rebar said. "I was sitting on that. I didn't care if it was in the air or on the ground, I just wanted to get the run home."
 
Clark exploded for a 4-for-5 game at the plate with an RBI. Georgia Tech transfer, junior Jenna Goodrich got her first start in the circle for North Texas. Goodrich allowed a run in her first inning of work before locking down the Lancers. She would hold them scoreless before a bizarre play on a pass ball allowed three runs to score to tie the game. Cal Baptist had struck earlier in the inning for one run.
 
"We should have just ate that ball," DeLong said. "We got caught trying to make a play. Weird things happen in softball. It was one of those."
 
Goodrich exited with 6.1 innings, five runs one earned on five hits with two strikeouts. Trautwein finished out the game, pitching the final 5.2 innings, allowing just two runs on two hits striking out 10. The Mean Green got its runs with a five-run fourth inning before the two teams would exchange runs in the 10th and 11th innings.
 
The Mean Green return to action with another double-header in the Aggie Classic tomorrow at 3p.m. against Texas A&M.
 
"We just need to compete tomorrow," DeLong said. "It'll be a good environment against Texas A&M. Looking forward to the challenge. If we compete and play hard in the two games, good things will happen."