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HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The North Texas softball team secured a program-best fourth road series victory with a 2-0 win in Sunday's rubber match against Southern Mississippi. The Mean Green set a program record with their 53rd home run of the season, coming on a late home run by Sam Rea.

"It's probably the most shocking record," North Texas head coach Tracey Kee said. "We're not a big team when it comes to size. These kids have good swings and do a good job of getting behind balls."

After six scoreless innings, Rea opened the scoring with a solo blast to lead off the seventh inning. Entering the inning, North Texas (24-24, 10-10 C-USA) struggled to get the ball in the air with 15 groundouts and three flyouts.

"I wanted to get a good swing on a great pitch," Rea said. "We were just trying to hit strikes as hard as possible to score."

The Mean Green worked the bases loaded on a pair of walks and a Katie Clark infield single and scored a necessary insurance run as Lacy Gregory drew a bases-loaded walk to score Briana Valdez.

"We didn't feel pressured but had a sense of urgency to get some runs for Hope," Rea said. "We always have confidence when Hope's out there."

The late runs provided the necessary comfort for Hope Trautwein (14-10), who was able to keep the Golden Eagles off the board in the final inning to secure her fourth complete-game shutout.

"I knew they were going to break that wall," Trautwein said. "Seeing it happen made me more excited to finish out the game."

Neither offense had many opportunities until the bottom of the fifth inning, when a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases for Southern Miss (19-33, 8-13 C-USA) with two outs. After working Chase Nelson to a full count, Trautwein induced a fly ball to Camille Grahmann to escape the jam.

"I just wanted to get something playable," Trautwein said. "I knew my defense would make the plays they needed to. A fly ball was perfect because Camille had been great out there all weekend long."

The North Texas defense continued to shine in the final two innings as Grahmann caught another fly ball for the final out of the sixth that stranded a runner in scoring position and Rhylie Makawe hauled in an over-the-shoulder catch on the run to secure the final out.

"We hadn't been playing well defensively, especially in conference," Kee said. "Camille played a lockdown game in left field. On that last play, I was looking for the ball to hit the ground and it never dropped. That's just Rhylie. She's going to give you everything she has."

UP NEXT

North Texas concludes the regular season with a three-game home series against UAB, beginning with a double-header at 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday.

QUICK HITTERS

• Trautwein finished the weekend with a 1.17 ERA and 15 strikeouts over 18 innings.
• Lacy Gregory extended her C-USA hitting streak to eight games and Katie Clark reached base safely for the 20th straight contest.
• The Mean Green held Southern Miss to 3 for 13 (.231) with runners in scoring position and 0 for 6 in the series finale.