North Texas at Charlotte (1) 

North Texas at Charlotte (2) 

Season Stats 

C-USA Stats 

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina – The North Texas softball team dropped both ends of a Conference USA doubleheader to Charlotte on Saturday, as the 49ers received a dominant performance in the 10-0 victory in game one and scored seven unanswered runs to secure the 8-3 comeback victory in game two at the Phillips Softball Complex.

“We have to do a better job of playing our game,” head coach Tracey Kee said. “Whenever you don’t pitch well, hit well or throw the ball around, you aren’t going to secure wins. Credit to Charlotte for capitalizing on our mistakes. They are an incredibly tough at home, but we didn’t execute in the games today.”

The difference of the day was two-out runs as the 49ers had 13 of their 18 runs cross with two outs. 

Game One
Charlotte 10, North Texas 0

The Charlotte 49ers received a dominant performance in the circle from Haley Wiseman and used two-out hits to secure the 10-0 run-rule victory in game one.

Charlotte’s Wiseman threw a complete game in the victory, picking-up three strikeouts while walking four. North Texas’ Stacey Underwood (10-6) took the loss, going 2.2 innings allowing six runs – four earned – with three strikeouts.

Charlotte jumped on Underwood early, as two hit batters came around to score on a two-out double down the line in left off the bat of Emma Ocker. Then, Erin Powers hit a blooper into shallow right to score two more 49ers, making it a 4-0 game.

North Texas had a chance to cut into Charlotte’s lead in the third, putting runners on first and second with one out, but Wiseman got Lindsay and Lacy Gregory to pop out to end the threat.

Then, in the third, Underwood found herself in another jam as Charlotte put two runners on with no outs. She was able to record two outs across the next batters, but an error at second on what should have been the third out allowed both runners to score and ended Underwood’s outing.

“You can’t give teams extra outs because your chances of winning goes down,” Kee said. “We weren’t able to close out the inning and that’s something that we need to fix moving forward.”

Charlotte added to its lead in the fourth on Haley Pace’s solo home run to left field and back-to-back two-out doubles by Kiersten Berrier and Grace Beatty increased Charlotte’s advantage to eight. Ocker hit a two-run home run off the foul pole in right field to move it to a 10-run lead.

Game Two
Charlotte 8, North Texas 3

North Texas was unable to hold onto a 3-1 lead, as the 49ers scored seven unanswered runs across the fifth and sixth innings to secure an 8-3 victory and the sweep on Saturday.

The 49ers offense picked up where it left off in game one as Haley Pace put Charlotte on the board in the first, hitting the second pitch she saw over the wall in right-center field off senior Jessica Elder.

Elder settled down after the inning, and her offense started to get things rolling.

North Texas (18-15, 6-5 C-USA) got the run back in the third, as sophomore Harley Perella delivered with a two-out RBI single back up the middle, scoring Lindsay Gregory to even the game at one.

In the fourth, freshman Lacy Gregory lined a 1-2 pitch back up the middle, plating sophomore Bailey Thompson to give North Texas its first lead of the day. The team added another run on a double steal as senior Kelli Schkade scored when the 49ers shortstop was unable to cut off the throw that went into shallow left.

After that, the Mean Green went cold at the dish and Charlotte (21-17, 4-7 C-USA) heated up.

The 49ers came right back in the fifth, scoring four runs, three on a base hit to center by Meredith Harris, to regain the lead.

With two on and two outs, Elder intentionally walked Grace Beatty to create play a force at any base, but Harris singled up the middle, scoring two runs and a third advanced home on a throwing error by freshman Nicole Ochotnicki. The 49ers added one more to make it 5-3.

In the sixth, the 49ers stretched their lead to five after tallying three more runs.

Elder (4-5) was dealt the loss allowing eight runs – four earned – across six innings. Charlotte’s Wiseman was the winning pitcher in game two, limiting the Mean Green to two runs in four innings of relief.

Quick Hits

• Lacy Gregory failed to reach base in game one, ending her streak at 16 games. 
• Nine of the 10 runs Charlotte scored in game one came with two outs.
• Hanna Rebar reached safely in both games, improving her season-best streak to eight consecutive games.
• Bailey Thompson collected her second multi-hit game of the season with a 2-for-3 showing in game two. 
• North Texas was 0-for-3 in bases loaded situations on Saturday. 
• The Mean Green are 3-4 in North Carolina this season. 
• Today marked the first meeting between schools.

Up Next For The Mean Green

North Texas and Charlotte with conclude their three-game series tomorrow at noon (ET) at the Phillips Softball Complex.