DENTON – Solid pitching and timely hitting carried North Texas softball to its fifth conference series win of the season in Saturday's doubleheader against UTSA.
 
The Mean Green (28-15, 13-4 C-USA) won two games with the Roadrunners (17-25, 6-11 C-USA) on a day where the high winds at Lovelace Stadium caused for not many balls to carry off the bats.
 
"We took advantage of the wind," head coach Rodney DeLong said. "We challenged away and tried to make UTSA hit into it."
 
The two wins keeps North Texas in the hunt for a regular season Conference USA title.
 
"It's big," DeLong said about Saturday's sweep. "We've gotta put pressure on Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky. If we keep winning games it puts pressure on them."
 
Sophomore Hope Trautwein (18-6) carried the bulk of the load for the Mean Green in the circle Saturday tossing 9.1 innings across the two games, earning a win and her fourth save of the year.
 
Saturday's doubleheader was also the first two home games which saw Katie Clark in the starting lineup since March 12^th. The junior had been battling a right hand injury that kept her limited.
 
"It's fun to get back in and contribute to things," Clark said. "I'm glad I had the opportunity to get back out there today."
 
North Texas 3, UTSA 0
Trautwein's complete game shutout was the key to a game one victory. The Plugerville native struck out nine hitters while only walking two and giving up just four hits.
 
North Texas recorded seven hits as a team with each being a single, but it was a UTSA miscue that started off the scoring for the day.
 
Nicole Ochotnicki stepped to the dish with runners at second and third and two outs in the second. The sophomore hit a fly ball down the right field that was dropped by UTSA's right fielder, resulting in two North Texas runs and putting Ochotnicki at third.
 
The Mean Green's third run came in the sixth when freshman Tayla Evans scampered home on a groundball to the second baseman. The three runs were all Trautwein needed to record her 18^th win of the season, as she didn't allow a UTSA runner to get past second base.
 
North Texas 4, UTSA 3
UTSA put freshman starter Bailey Tindell in a jam to open game number two. After a groundout to start the game, the Roadrunners got back-to-back hits followed by a fielder's choice to put runners on the corners with two away.
 
Tindell responded with a huge strikeout to end the threat and get the Mean Green to the plate in a scoreless game.
 
Back-to-back one out singles by senior Harley Perella and junior Lacy Gregory was followed by a groundout by Evans. It put runners at second and third with two away for Sally Gastelo. The senior singled to center plating both runners and giving North Texas the early lead.
 
Both teams went scoreless for the next two frames with both pitchers settling in to a groove. Clark added to the North Texas lead in the fourth with a double, plating Ochotnicki.
 
The Roadrunners struck for two runs in the fifth. Following back-to-back singles to start the inning, Tindell recorded two quick outs but it was a two-run single to left field that got UTSA on the board.
 
Trautwein entered the game with two outs and an 0-1 count on a hitter with runners at first and second, and recorded a strikeout to end the inning.
 
The Mean Green got one of the runs back in the fifth on an RBI single by senior Hannah Gerecke, but both teams traded scoreless frames in the sixth.
 
The Roadrunners followed a one-out double with a single cutting the Mean Green's lead to just one. The Roadrunners had runners at second and third with one away. However, Trautwein would get a strikeout for out number two and junior Kenzie Young would track down a ball hit towards the left field wall for the series clinching out dealing with the pressure.
 
The Mean Green's two wins on Saturday surpasses the 2018 conference win total, and pushes North Texas closer to program history as they sit just four wins away from a season-best win total with eight regular season games to go.