Nacogdoches - (2/22/05) - Sophomore Susan Waters hit two home runs and freshman Kristina Fowler earned her first win on the mound to lead the North Texas softball team to an 8-5 victory against Stephen F. Austin on Tuesday afternoon at Coy Sims Field.
The Mean Green (2-10) recorded season highs in runs and hits (14) in the victory with six of the 14 hits going for extra bases.
Fowler pitched the first 4.1 innings, allowing three runs off six hits, while striking out eight batters. She earned her first collegiate victory and improves to 1-3 on the season. Sophomore Katy Maxey collected her second career save after pitching 2.2 innings in relief.
Seniors Stephanie Cranmer and Brittiny Chapman combined for five runs batted in to give North Texas an early 5-0 lead after three innings. In the top of the first, Chapman singled in the first run before Cranmer helped two more runners cross the plate with a triple. Chapman, who started her second game at second base, hit a sacrifice fly in the third inning to record her second RBI. Cranmer followed with a single, scoring sophomore Christen Jonse who doubled to get on base.
Sophomore Heather Bostic scored two of NT’s first five runs. She went 3-for-4 in the game and leads the team with 10 hits and 17 total bases this season. Chapman, Cranmer, Maxey and Waters all posted two-hit games for the Mean Green.
Waters hit a solo homer in the fourth inning and then followed that up with a two-run long ball in the sixth inning to put NT ahead, 8-3. The third baseman was 1-for-29 prior to today’s 2-for-3 outing. It is the second time in Waters’ career that she has hit two home runs in a single game. She leads the North Texas squad with 11 career homers.
Waters’ runs proved crucial down the stretch as Stephen F. Austin scored two runs in the fourth and the seventh. Maxey successfully pitched out of a jam in the bottom of the seventh to seal the win.
North Texas returns to action this weekend when it plays at home for the first time this season. The Mean Green hosts the North Texas Mean Green Classic beginning on Friday, Feb. 25 with two games at 11 am and 2 pm.
###
