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DENTON – As former members of the North Texas softball team flock to Denton for Saturday's Alumni Day celebrations, it will be about more than supporting their alma mater and stepping foot on the field in which they starred in a Mean Green uniform.

Prior to UNT's (22-21, 8-7 C-USA) series opener against Florida International (24-23, 8-7 C-USA), the athletic department will present head coach Tracey Kee with a framed home plate to honor her 800th career win in front of many players who got her there from win No. 683, her first at North Texas.

"I was so happy to see her get that 800th win," former stand-out pitcher Stacey Underwood said. "She deserves it 100 percent."

“It’s just a testament of coach Kee's commitment to her players and the game,” Karly Williams said. “She cares so much about each one of her student athletes on and off the field. She recognizes that we are people first, then students, then athletes.”

Williams, a member of the Mean Green from 2013-16, was on the team for Kee's 700th in the win column, a 3-0 victory over UT San Antonio at home on March 15, 2014. UNT finished the season with a program-record 31 wins and advanced to the C-USA semifinals.

"To have a coach come in with that many wins under her belt was comforting," Williams said. "It's always difficult to have new staff come in, but that amount of wins showed she's been doing something right and it made it that much easier to trust her system."

While the 700^th win was a special one for Kee, Williams’ most memorable victory came in the final game of her North Texas career, a 3-2 win over UAB. Dani Gregory hit a walk-off single to clinch the series 2-1 after losing 15 straight entering the weekend.

“We were in a place where it was so easy to do nothing with those games because we had no chance of making the conference tournament,” Williams said. “Coach Kee and the rest of the team made that last series enjoyable, and I was able to end my career on a win.”

Following her most-recent milestone victory, a 7-4 win over Mississippi Valley State on April 8, Kee immediately deferred the praise to the student-athletes who played for her. Underwood was not surprised at this reaction.

"That's the type of person and coach she is," Underwood said. "She knows that without the players she wouldn't have the wins and you can feel that. When she's coaching you or even talking to you, you feel like more than just a means to get more wins. She cares about and values you as a person."

While she reached the same conclusion about Kee's selflessness, it took a pitch to the face resulting in a broken jaw for Karly Williams to witness it. While Williams waited for surgery, Kee spent a few days in Huntington, W. Va., with Williams and her mother.

"While the circumstances weren't ideal, that's when I realized just how awesome coach Kee was," Williams said.

Perhaps the greatest gift Kee gave to her players over the years was never giving up on an athlete and doing whatever it took as a coach to maximize the potential of her student-athletes not only as softball players, but as people.

“I had a very rocky career, yet she stood by and supported me through everything,” Williams said. “That's just the surface of what I can say about her, and I am so proud of what she has done for the program.”

“From the beginning, she gave me a chance and she believed in me,” Underwood said. “She helped me grow not only as an athlete but as a woman and what it takes to be a strong woman in this world.”

Underwood recognized that from the first time she visited North Texas. Sitting across the desk from Kee, she received the first of many transparent talks with the long-time coach.

“She said, ‘it’s not going to be easy, but I’ll do my best to make you the best pitcher, athlete and person I can,’” Underwood said. “She wasn’t trying to sell me anything or fake anything. Looking back, I appreciate that more than anything. That’s helped me out in the real world more than anything else.”

If anyone knows a thing or two about something that isn’t easy, it’s a 21-year veteran head coach with 801 career wins under her belt. Kee and her current squad continue the journey to win 900 as they host Florida International for a three-game series, beginning with a double-header at 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday.

The Mean Green are 14-33 all-time against the Panthers and 3-9 since Kee came to Denton in 2014. North Texas looks to snap a six-game losing streak against FIU.