Senior Brooke Foster, photographed above, hit the clutch shot late to propel the Mean Green over Northern Iowa once again.

Season Statistics

NT 7, Northern Iowa 6 Box

Tournament Central

DENTON, Texas - North Texas softball topped Northern Iowa in the their second matchup of the weekend, this time off of a timely Brooke Foster three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth, and won the Lovelace Invitational, going 5-0 on the weekend.

With the win, the Mean Green continued its win streak, now at six straight, as it begins preparations for the second of its three home tournaments, the Texas Shootout, which kicks off on Feb. 20. at Lovelace Stadium.

"I am extremely proud of this group, and I think, for us, the one thing we learned this weekend is how to be very resilient," head coach Tracey Kee said. "I liked the energy we had even when we were down. I think we're beginning to believe what we're made of and how good we can be if we continue to trust the process and work hard."

In what became a dog fight, North Texas and Northern Iowa, which has been receiving votes in the top-25 poll, traded runs early before the Panthers generated a two-run lead heading into the bottom of the sixth.

But much like in their first meeting, the Mean Green retaliated when down late in the ball game, this time behind a Foster three-run shot that knocked in Taylor Schoblocher, the heroine from the first meeting between the two, and senior Jackie Miller, who homered earlier in the contest.

"Honestly, I swung at a bad pitch, and it didn't feel like a real solid hit," Foster said. "But it seemed kind of high so I took off and sure enough, when I looked, it had gone over."

All four North Texas pitchers saw action in the game beginning with Madison Thompson, who faced the first 16 Northern Iowa batters. Senior Ashley Kirk entered the game midway through the sixth inning and retired the last five Panthers to get the win.

The Mean Green will remain in Denton as it prepares to open up the Texas Shootout with a doubleheader on Thursday, Feb. 20, against Texas State at 5 p.m. followed by Abilene Christian at 7 p.m.

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