Denton, Texas (2/21/09) Ashley Lail and Kayla Lawson pitched two shutout games to lead the North Texas softball team to wins against Central Arkansas and Butler in day two action of the Sleep Inn Classic on Saturday afternoon at Lovelace Stadium. The Mean Green opened with a 5-0 win against Central Arkansas and followed with a 2-0 victory against Butler.
The Mean Green extends its overall record to 7-4 and moves to 3-0 in the series against the Bears and 1-0 against Butler. Central Arkansas falls to 7-9 and Butler extends its losing streak to 0-4. North Texas is off to its best start in school history through 11 games.
"The pitchers were superb," said North Texas head coach TJ Hubbard. "Both were dominating. It was a good turn-around day for us. I saw a little more consistency with our offense today."
Lail improved to 2-1 with a four-hit complete game performance against Central Arkansas, while Lawson is now 2-2 after allowing just three hits in seven innings of work against Butler. The pitchers were backed by a season-high 10 hits against Central Arkansas and clutch hitting against Butler.
In the win against Central Arkansas, North Texas took the lead off a four-run fourth inning, which was aided by two Bears errors. Sarah Jones knocked in the first run with an RBI single, and Amber Miller hit a three-run homer to clear the bases and give NT a 4-0 lead. Miller went 2-for-3 with three RBI in her first start in a Mean Green uniform. She posted her first home run in only her third career at-bat. Rebecca Waters knocked in the fifth run with an RBI single in the fifth inning.
Mariza Martinez and Sarah Jones both tied career highs with three hits each in the Central Arkansas win. Martinez also stole two bases and had three for the day. She leads the team with seven stolen bases, which is already tied for fifth on NT’s single-season school record list.
"It was nice to see Amber come in and get a home run in her third at-bat of the season," said Hubbard. "Caitlin has been hitting the ball real well the whole tournament."
Freshman Caitlin Grimes broke a scoreless game in the second inning against Butler with her first career home run. Grimes is now 4-for-6 in three games, including a 2-for-2 performance against Butler. Sophomore Mallory Canter plated the second run with an RBI single in the fifth inning. Cantler also posted a mult-hit game with two hits.
In tournament play, Martinez is tied for the lead with seven hits and four runs scored. Grimes is tied for the tournament lead with a .667 batting average, and Jones is fifth with a .571 average.
Iowa State, Missouri State and North Texas have a three-way tie in the tournament, all have a record of 3-1.
North Texas concludes action in the Sleep Inn Classic with a 3 pm game against Wichita State at Lovelace Stadium.
