Las Cruces, NM (2/10/07) - Junior Taylor Johnston hit a three-run homer to lead the North Texas softball team to a 5-1 victory against Sam Houston on Saturday morning at the NMSU Softball Complex. Colorado State used a five-run sixth inning to come back and defeat the Mean Green, 8-7, in the beginning of bracket play in the NMSU Las Cruces Hilton Invitational on Saturday night.
The Mean Green (2-2) wins its first game in the series against Sam Houston, trailing 3-1. Colorado State evens the record with North Texas, 1-1.
Four North Texas players posted multi-hit games in the win against Sam Houston. The top five in the lineup combined for eight of the 10 hits in the game. Colorado State used three home runs in the sixth inning to take the victory. North Texas held an early 3-0 lead after freshman Rebecca Waters hit a three-RBI double in the first inning. Senior Susan Waters, a preseason All-Sun Belt selection, hit her third home in four games in the seventh inning against CSU.
Freshman Kayla Lawson (1-0) earned her first victory in the circle for the Mean Green against Sam Houston. She pitched a complete game, giving up one run off five hits. Junior Kristina Fowler (0-2) took her second loss of the tournament after coming in for relief of Ashley Lail.
Johnston hit her third career home run in her first start of the season in the top of the second inning against Sam Houston. Fowler knocked in the first of two runs with a single in the third inning to give North Texas a 4-0 lead. After Sam Houston used two singles to get on the scoreboard, 4-1, Fowler hit a sacrifice fly to score NT’s final run of the game in the seventh inning.
North Texas held two leads in the loss against Colorado State. Rebecca Waters gave North Texas an early 3-0 in the first inning with her second career hit and first three RBI. Waters and her older sister, Susan, posted five of NT’s 10 hits in the game and knocked in all five earned runs.
After Sam Houston tied the game, 3-3, in the fourth inning, North Texas scored two unearned runs off a SHS error. Sam Houston scored five runs in the sixth inning, including three solo home runs. The Mean Green came up just short in the bottom of the seventh inning with a no-out two-run homer by Susan Waters. NT’s next three batters went down in order.
North Texas will face Sam Houston in the consolation game on Sunday, Feb. 11 at 10 am.
