STARKVILLE, Miss. – UNT softball split the opening day of The Snowman: Alex Wilcox Memorial with a 5-1 win over Murray State before an 8-2 loss in nine innings to Rutgers at Nusz Park on Friday.
With the victory in game one, head coach Cody White recorded career win No. 500 to join elite ranks as the 67th active Division I head coach to notch the milestone.
Anneca Anderson led the Mean Green (2-5) to victory as she notched her first complete game of the season and 16th of her career against the Racers (3-3). She tallied seven strikeouts over seven innings pitched while she allowed four hits and one walk.
Junior Elizabeth Moffitt hit her fourth home run of the season to open the scoring in the second inning and posted her third multi-hit game as she added an RBI double in the fifth. Madison Conley recorded a two-run double while Ariah Mitchell drove in Conley with an RBI double, all in the fifth inning. Conley, Mitchell and Moffitt each finished with two hits.
North Texas dropped a dramatic extra-inning loss against Rutgers (4-3) after tying the game in the bottom of the seventh inning as Moffitt drove in pinch runner Sienna Mayer for the first run before pinch runner Addie Perry slid into home on a passed ball to tie the game at 2-2.
After opening the top of the eighth with back-to-back walks, junior Kayleigh Smith disabled the Scarlet Knights attack with a trio of ground balls to end the top half of the inning with runners stranded in scoring position.
Freshman Eva Daniels and Conley each reached base in the bottom of the eighth but were unable to score before Rutgers exploded for six runs in the ninth to take the victory.
The Mean Green return to Nusz Park against No. 19 Mississippi State at 3 p.m. Saturday on SEC Network+ before a rematch with Murray State at 5:30 p.m.