BOX SCORE - NORTH TEXAS
BOX SCORE - USF

TAMPA, Fla. – The University of Hartford softball team dropped a pair of games on Wednesday, first falling in extra innings to North Texas by a 4-3 final before suffering a 7-1 setback to the 22nd-ranked USF Bulls in the nightcap. The Hawks fall to 4-12 on the season with the losses.

In the opening game of the afternoon, North Texas jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but Hartford's defense clamped down and the offense got hot as the Hawks tied the game up in the top of the sixth frame to force extra innings. After exchanging zeroes in the eighth, USF scored the game winning run as Jennifer Beardsley, who pinch-ran to start the frame, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored the walk-off run with two outs on an infield single.

The Mean Green (12-14) used three hits to plate three runs in their first at-bats before sophomore pitcher Kaitlyn Meade and the Hawks got defensive and did not allow a single run through the next six innings.

With its defense getting the stops it needed, Hartford scored a single run in the top of the fifth and followed up with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth to knot the game at three runs apiece.

Melani Maxwell, a junior, scored Hartford's first run of the afternoon after leading off the stanza with a single to center field. The third baseman then used back-to-back base hits off the bats of Amber Andrews and Shannon Simpkins to advance to third and crossed home plate on a fielding error in Kate Wacyk's at-bat.

In the following inning, Hartford loaded up the bases with just one out in the inning. Freshman Peyton Fisher reached base on a fielder's choice that nabbed the Hawks' lead off runner Jordan Haines who was hit by a pitch to start the frame. Maxwell then connected for her second base hit of the day and both runners would advance 60 feet on a wild pitch to occupy both second and third base. Erica Phelps singled in Hartford's second run of the game to cut the deficit to 2-1.

After issuing a walk to Simpkins, Lauren Poole was replaced by Brittany Simmons inside of the circle, and the Mean Green managed to get Maxwell out at home plate on a fielder's choice by Andrews. Jackie Kelly, a freshman who pinch hit for classmate Devynne Butler, would get credit for the game-tying RBI in the next at-bat when she worked a walk off of Simmons, allowing Phelps to cross home plate and make it a 3-3 game.

Despite being awarded two-straight walks with two down in the seventh, North Texas could not plate the go-ahead run in the bottom of that frame and sent the game in to extra innings.

Meade threw a solid game for the Hawks, allowing four runs, three earned, in 8.2 innings while striking out a pair of batters. Poole earned the win for North Texas, her third of the season.

In the nightcap, the Bulls (26-5) got off to a quick start, scoring two in the first inning. The Hawks responded with a run in the third as Margaret Betz, who singled in the frame, scored on an infield error before the game was haulted due to lightening.

Following the inclement weather, USF and Sam Greiner, who finished with a one-hit shutout, shut the door the rest of the way, not allowing a single Hartford hit during the last four innings.

The Bulls added a single run in the fourth and went on to cushion their lead to 6-1 in the fifth with three more runs. A sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth rounded out the scoring for the game and led USF to the eventual 7-1 victory.

The Hawks conclude their Florida trip with a doubleheader against Bethune-Cookman on Thursday. First pitch is scheduled to be thrown at 2:00 p.m.