Softball closes out mid-week slate by defeating North Texas, 4-2

Wednesday, May 4

Austin, Texas

5 p.m.

University of Texas

34-14

North Texas

20-32

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
North Texas	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	7	0
Texas	2	2	0	0	0	0	X	4	7	1

Softball closes out mid-week slate by defeating North Texas, 4-2

05.04.2016 | Softball

Box Score

Senior right fielder Holly Kern powers the Longhorns by going 2-for-3 with a triple and three RBIs

AUSTIN, Texas – On Wednesday evening at Red & Charline McCombs Field, senior right fielder Holly Kern knocked in three runs and junior pitcher Tiarra Davis earned her single-season, career-high 20th victory of the campaign as Texas softball (34-14) closed out its 2016 non-conference schedule with a 4-2 victory over North Texas (20-32).

Davis was terrific from the circle in improving to 20-9 overall, allowing just three hits over four shutout innings of work with seven strikeouts. Sophomore reliever Paige von Sprecken earned her second save of the year by permitting just two hits and striking out one in 2.0 frames.

Kern led the offensive charge at the plate with a 2-for-3 effort, her first triple of the season and three RBIs. Senior center fielder Lindsey Stephens was 1-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored, junior third baseman Celina Felix was 1-for-3 with a tally and junior first baseman Kelli Hanzel doubled while going 1-for-2 with a run scored. Junior shortstop Devon Tunning (1-for-3) and freshman left fielder Reagan Hathaway (1-for-2) each added single hits for the Longhorns offense.

After a quick 1-2-3 top of the first for UNT, Texas wasted no time jumping to an early lead on the Mean Green during the bottom half. Stephens and Felix christened the Longhorns initial at-bat with back-to-back singles through the infield. With two on and no one out, Kern hit a chopper towards short. North Texas' Kelli Schkade charged in on the ball and appeared to have trouble getting to it as Stephens crossed in front of her. The umpires ruled no interference and Stephens eventually slid home safely on the base knock to make it 1-0. The advantage soon doubled as von Sprecken lifted a sacrifice fly to right, plating Felix from 60 feet away with UT's second run.

Hoping to answer right back in the top of the second, North Texas first baseman Rhylie Makawe got the Mean Green off to a positive start by reaching on an infield single and immediately moving into scoring position on a wild pitch. Davis refused to allow UNT's offense to string anything together, however, by inducing a foul out to right before posting consecutive strikeouts of designated player Casady Webb and catcher Bryana Wade to leave the runner stranded.

With Hanzel on via double and Stephens on following a walk in the bottom of the second, Kern drilled a two-RBI triple into the right center field gap to boost the UT lead to 4-0.

The Mean Green tried to get a rally going in the top of the fourth as second baseman Karly Williams and Makawe christened the inning with consecutive singles. Davis again danced her way out of any danger as a sacrifice bunt and consecutive K's of Webb and Wade left a pair of UNT runners in scoring position.

Once again, North Texas got the first two on to begin a frame in the fifth as right fielder Hannah Gerecke singled and center fielder Bailey Thompson walked against Longhorns reliever Kristen Clark. This time the Mean Green took advantage as Williams drove a single to left, plating both runners to cut their deficit to 4-2.

With von Sprecken in her second inning of relief work in the seventh, North Texas mounted one final scoring opportunity. Pinch hitter Kay Kay Hayter started things off by singling through the left side of the infield with one retired. Schkade followed with a base knock to left center and suddenly the Mean Green had the go ahead run standing at the plate. Texas' hurler refused to yield, however, getting left fielder Makenzi Dawson to hit into a fielder's choice to third before handling a pop-up back to the circle herself to complete the victory.

TEXAS POSTGAME QUOTES

Texas Head Coach Connie Clark

On the team's focus in the game: I thought that our focus was pretty good actually. I think that our goal was to get all three pitchers in. I thought Kristen [Clark] hit the strike-zone, but they got a couple hits and a timely hit. I thought that we did a pretty nice job of staying on the attack. It would have been nice put up a few more runs. We were making some adjustments, but I thought that our focus was good today.

On taking the momentum up to Iowa State this weekend: Yeah, it feels like we have been home forever. We have become comfortable, so that will be the challenge of going on the road again. And just finishing out strong, it is final series with three games. [The players] have finals on their brains, so we have to make sure that we are getting some good time management and be able to leave the academics outside the dugout and focus there. Then when we get done playing, they can get back to the focus of the academic side. That is the challenge this time of year, but I think that we are up for it. I am looking forward to it.

On where the team is right now: I think that we are getting better every day right now, and it is the goal to get better every day. I think we are building a lot of confidence as well. Again, to get one of these mid-weeks, and they bounced up the time to a 5:00 p.m. start, is a little different feel for us. Some kids actually had some final exams and projects today, so they were coming out here late and had to get warmed up in a different fashion. So in that regard, I like where we are.

On playing all three pitchers today: We had talked about it before the game that we were going to try and get all three of them some work. Just to stay sharp as we head to Ames because the series is so big for RPI purposes and continues to be. I think that we have positioned ourselves nicely to move up, but we can't have a letdown. We need to get all three of them work, because we potentially need all three of them over the long haul this weekend and into post season. So it worked out well. They got some good work and all three attacked the strike zone well tonight.

Senior Outfielder Lindsey Stephens

On the big lead in the early innings: We had plan for when we came up there, and actually expected it to be the second pitcher. The first pitcher, we just went up there aggressive and got the outcome. So then we had to play chess with the second pitcher. I feel like we hit the ball hard. We hit the ball right to people, so just didn't get the outcome we wanted off that pitcher. Good thing we attacked early.

On going on the road after a long home stint: It is exciting. I think we like being at home, but going away sometimes it is like, 'ok let's go travel and play on someone else's field, rough them up on their home field.' It is their home ground. It is exciting to get to travel one last time for conference play.

Senior Outfielder Holly Kern

On the last couple of innings after the quick start: We have been talking lately with our coaches about starting fast, so I think that we came out with that mentality. We have been focusing so much on starting fast that sometimes we need to keep our foot on the pedal, and sometimes we let up a little bit. That second pitcher was a lot slower and "spinny," so we were trying to figure her out. We were putting people in the front of the box, and trying to put people in the back of the box. We couldn't quite put the right formula together, so it was a good thing we started fast and ended up with more runs than they did.

On keeping the momentum when traveling up to Iowa State: I think that our focus will be just trying to keep our momentum going forward. We have done pretty well in our last couple Big 12 series, and Iowa State is no different. We need to out there with the foot on the pedal and take it to them. I think a good motivation to that too is that we play Baylor the next weekend. So we want to take the momentum from this series, all that we can get, and take it to Baylor next week.