COMMERCE – The Texas A&M University-Commerce softball team dropped a pair of run-rule games to North Texas on Tuesday evening at the John Cain Family Softball Complex via scores of 15-3 in five innings and 10-0 in six.
 
Game 1: NORTH TEXAS 15, A&M-COMMERCE 3 (Five Innings)
The Mean Green's Lexie Cobb drew a one-out four-pitch walk in the first and came around to score on a triple to right center by Cierra Simon, who was stranded there as the Lions got the next two outs.
 
In the bottom of the first, Tehya Pitts (Denton – Guyer) and Charli Anger (Lubbock – Cooper) led off the game with back-to-back base hits. After a groundout advanced both runners, Diamond Sefe (Carson, Calif.) hit a bunt single to bring home Pitts, while Anger scored on a sacrifice bunt by Darby Hickey (Plano Senior).
 
Molly Rainey led off the top of the second with a single up the middle and Kat Ibarra followed with a double down the right field line. After a pair of strikeouts, Morgan Medford drew a walk to load the bases and Cobb drew another walk, this time Rainey scored and tied the game.
 
Simon followed with a two-run double to right, plating both Ibarra and Medford. The Lions used a groundout to get out of the inning with runners at second and third. Kailey Gamble hit a solo home run to center to lead off the third.
 
In the fourth, Medford singled through the left side and came around to score on a double to right by Cobb, who scored on a two-run home run to left by Simon, who fell a single short of securing a cycle.
 
With two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Lencia Powell (Birdville) drew a walk. The Mean Green had five infielders and both outfielders shifting left for Kasey Kuyrkendall (Royse City), who drove a ball to right center, easily allowing Powell to score, while Kuyrkendall went to second with a one-run double.
 
Both Madison Conley and Gamble had three-run home runs in the fifth, while Simon drove in another run on a fielder's choice. The Lions left the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth, totaling five runners left on base in the game.
 
Simon went 3 for 4 with six RBIs in the game, while Gamble hit two home runs in the game for North Texas. Mackenzie Wagoner pitched four innings for the win, allowing three earned runs, while striking out five and Julia Sanchez (The Kinkaid School) took the loss for the Lions, surrendering five earned runs in 2.0 innings.
 
For the Lions, Anger went 2 for 3, with the top four in the Lion batting lineup combining for five of the team's six hits in the game, the lone other hit was the RBI double by Kuyrkendall.
 
Game 2: NORTH TEXAS 10, A&M-COMMERCE 0 (Six Innings)
The Mean Green left the bases loaded in both the first and the second innings. In the second, Pitts made a great catch at the track to keep the game scoreless.
 
TEHYA PITTS CATCH HIGHLIGHT
 
Mikayla Smith and Gamble drew two walks in a row to lead off the third. Rainey reached on a throwing error by the Lions on a sacrifice bunt, as both Smith and Gamble scored on the play, while Rainey was safe at first on obstruction. Conley drew a walk and Kalei Christensen was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but after a Lion pitching change, Sanchez came into the game and collected three strikeouts in a row to keep it 2-0.
 
Simon hit an infield bunt single and stole a base, coming around to score on an RBI single by Smith, who advanced to second on the throw. Smith moved to third on a throwing error and Rainey hit an infield bunt double to third, while Smith remained at third.
 
Both Smith and Rainey came around to score on a two-run double to right center by Christensen.
 
In the top of the sixth, Rainey singled down the right field line to lead off the inning and Ibarra came in as a pinch hitter and doubled to right center, as Rainey advanced to third. Both runners scored on a grounder by Christensen, who reached on a throwing error.
 
Nicholson singled to the pitcher on a bunt and Medford advanced both runners on a sacrifice bunt, while Jodie Epperson came in as a pinch hitter and hit a two-run single to left, while advancing to second on the throw, and she scored on a sacrifice fly by Shaleen Donohoe, after advancing to third on a wild pitch.
 
Rainey went 2 for 3, while Christensen had three of the team's seven RBIs. Anger, Tatum Wright (Frisco – Centennial), and Sefe had a hit each in the game.
 
Skylar Savage collected a complete-game shutout win, striking out six, while walking one, and allowing three hits. Destiny Martinez (Denver, Colo.) allowed seven walks, three hit batters in two innings to get the loss, surrendering one earned run.
 
The Lions fall to 7-41, which is a new program record for most losses in a season, and North Texas is 25-18 overall and 4-0 all-time against A&M-Commerce.
 
UP NEXT
A&M-Commerce plays the final series on the road in Southland Conference play at Northwestern State this weekend. The two teams play a doubleheader at 4 p.m. on Friday and a single game at noon on Saturday.