Mean Green Host UAB For Final Regular-Season Series
North Texas Needs One Win To Secure Conference Tournament Berth
The Last Meeting
April 15, 2017
Birmingham, AL
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DENTON - The regular season comes to an end this weekend as the North Texas softball team hosts UAB for a three-game series, beginning with a double-header at 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday.
The Mean Green (24-24, 10-10 C-USA) trail the Blazers (22-29-1, 13-7-1 C-USA) 3-9 in the all-time series, but North Texas won two out of three the last time UAB came to Denton in 2016.
Last weekend, the Mean Green took two out of three at Southern Miss for their program-record fourth road series win of the season. After splitting Saturday’s double-header, Sam Rea hit a game-winning home run in the final inning of game three that set the program’s single-season home run record (53).
After starting all three games of the series and striking out 15 with a 1.17 ERA over 18 innings, Hope Trautwein earned her first career C-USA Pitcher of the Week award and became the second freshman in program history to compile 150 strikeouts.
Trautwein will be matched up with a Blazers’ offense that leads Conference USA with 69 doubles and ranks second in hits (381) and triples (11). Sophomore Destini England paces the league with 68 hits while sophomore Natalie Erwin has a conference-best five triples.
UAB, the league leader in innings pitched (365.1), is the only C-USA school with two pitchers in the top 10 for innings pitched. Sophomore Claire Blount and freshman Emily Kachel are also the only teammates in the conference with at least 100 strikeouts.
The Blazers have allowed the second-fewest long balls in C-USA (26), while North Texas has hit more than twice that this season and rank 16th in Division I with 1.10 home runs per game. In 146 2/3 innings pitched, Blount surrenders just 0.29 home runs per seven innings.
Going into the final weekend of C-USA play, the Mean Green’s mission is relatively simple: win and they’re in. Based on this weekend’s outcomes, here is where North Texas could be seeded for the 2018 C-USA Tournament:
3rd: UNT sweeps UAB, UTSA sweeps FAU and Marshall/Middle Tennessee doesn’t end in a sweep
4th: UNT sweeps UAB, UTSA wins two of three against FAU and Marshall/Middle Tennessee doesn’t end in a sweep
OR
UNT sweeps UAB, UTSA sweeps FAU and Marshall/Middle Tennessee ends in sweep
5th: UNT sweeps UAB, UTSA wins two of three against FAU and Marshall/Middle Tennessee ends in sweep
6th: UNT wins two of three against UAB
OR
UAB wins two of three against UNT, Marshall/Middle Tennessee ends in sweep and WKU doesn't sweep FIU
7th: UAB wins two of three against UNT and WKU sweeps FIU
OR
UAB sweeps UNT, FIU wins two of three against WKU and Southern Miss doesn't sweep Charlotte
8th: UAB sweeps UNT, WKU wins two of three against FIU and Southern Miss doesn’t sweep Charlotte
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