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BOCA RATON, Fla. – For the fourth-straight time, the North Texas softball team took two out of three games in a series against Florida Atlantic with a 2-1 win over the Owls on Saturday afternoon. The Mean Green (18-16, 8-4 C-USA) have now won both C-USA series’ on the road this season.

“To come in here and take two games from one of the best teams in the conference, it says a lot about how this youth is maturing, getting after it and competing,” North Texas head coach Tracey Kee said.

Hope Trautwein (10-6) wrapped up a dazzling week with her second complete game of the series, holding FAU to four hits and striking out seven. She extended her streak of not allowing an earned run to 19 innings.

“She was phenomenal,” Kee said. “It’s great when opposing teams know what you’re going to throw and you still make those pitches. She did a great job of handling the pressure and keeping us in it until Ocho could come up with that big hit. You can see it in her eyes when she’s dialed in.”

Nicole Ochotnicki, who hadn’t recorded a hit in the series, made a roundtrip around the bases with a two-run home run to center with two outs in the fifth. It was her first long ball since Feb. 25 and fourth of the season.

“It felt so great,” Ochotnicki said. “I’d just been trying to get a hit all weekend. I was just trying to put the ball in play and it happened to go over.”

FAU (20-18, 8-4 C-USA) struck first on a successful sacrifice squeeze from Tatum Buckley that allowed Madisyn Palmer to score but, after allowing a double to Emily Lochten with one out in the third, Trautwein retired the next nine batters with five strikeouts and kept the Owls off the board over the last couple innings.

“I had to pitch my best there,” Trautwein said. “My team trusted in me to keep the lead and I trusted in them to keep them off the bases.”

UP NEXT

North Texas returns home for a mid-week tilt against Sam Houston State at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

QUICK HITTERS

• This week, Hope Trautwein went 3-0 with 23 strikeouts and no earned runs over 19 innings.
• The Mean Green matched their best start to C-USA play from 2014 (8-4), when they won a program-record 31 games.
• Hanna Rebar, who went 2-for-2 with a sac bunt Saturday, has a .533 OBP in the last six games.