DENTON -- Is there anything better than a sweep at Lovelace Stadium when the bleachers are packed and "The Eagles Nest" is rowdy in right field? No, there is not.
On a cloudy and misty Sunday afternoon, the North Texas softball team defeated Saint Mary's to capture their third sweep in the last four weekends.
North Texas has won seven in a row and improved their win total to 25, which matches the win total UNT had all of last season.
During the first game of Sunday's doubleheader, Rhylie Makawe hit her third home run of the series. On Sunday, the senior hit an opposite field three-run homer to give North Texas an early 4-1 lead. The Mean Green would win game two of the series by a score of 9-2.
In game three, Harley Perella and Lacy Gregory teamed up for four hits, three doubles and 8 RBIs to lead the Mean Green in a dominating 14-7 victory.
Here's five things you should know about this weekend's series sweep over Saint Mary's:
1. Rhylie Makawe went yard...A LOT
Makawe came into this weekend with four home runs on the season, which was good enough for fourth on the team. After three monster home runs against Saint Mary's, the second baseman shares the team lead in home runs with Hanna Rebar (7). Makawe finished the first two games of the series 4-for-7 with three bombs and seven RBIs. She was the catalyst on offense for the Mean Green in games one and two.
2. Bailey Tindell's confidence continues to grow
The freshman pitcher started off the year kind of rocky by allowing lots of hits and runs. Over the last few weeks, Tindell has proven to be a pitcher North Texas can rely on down the stretch of Conference USA play.
After the Gaels scored two runs off Jenna Goodrich in the first two innings of game two, DeLong and pitching coach Jamie Allred decided to insert Tindell in the game with runners on first and second with no outs. After Saint Mary's bunted to move the runners, Tindell recorded a strikeout and a groundout to get her team out of a jam. The freshman pitched the last five innings in relief and allowed just one hit and no runs to earn the save.
In game two, Tindell allowed one earned run through the first three innings before Hope Trautwein came in to shut the door on Saint Mary's.
"I just came out and did what I had to do," Tindell said. "I'm feeling a lot more confident on the field right now, and today definitely helped too."
3. Sally Gastelo came up in clutch moments
With North Texas up 4-2 heading into the fifth inning, the Mean Green were looking for someone to step up and break the game open with a big hit. Senior Sally Gastelo answered the bell with a two-out bases-clearing double to give North Texas a 7-2 advantage.
In game three, Gastelo came through again. She highlighted an eight-run fourth inning with another bases-clearing double to right-center field to separate North Texas from Saint Mary's in a 14-7 victory. She finished the day with six RBIs through the two games.
"When Sally and Camille [Grahmann] get rolling, they really help our lineup," DeLong said. "They're both very athletic and very good baserunners, so when those two are hitting, it makes us better."
4. Walks, walks, walks and more walks
Three weekends ago when UNT hosted UTEP, the Mean Green collected 22 walks during a Saturday doubleheader. I never would have thought North Texas would come close to that margin again, but I happened to be wrong. The Gaels walked 24 Mean Green batters throughout the series. In game three, UNT scored 14 runs off of six hits. Now that's a weird box score, but that's because the Gaels' pitchers really struggled to find the strike zone.
The Mean Green have 160 walks on the season, which leads all of Conference USA.
"We've been this way all year," DeLong said. "We're a good hitting and offensive team. Our hitters have a good clue of the zone, and we did a good job of that [being selective] today."
5. Lacy Gregory and Harley Perella have been the definition of consistent
Lacy Gregory and Harley Perella both had a quiet but effective weekend, and the only reason I consider it "quiet" is because of Makawe's three home runs. Gregory finished the weekend 5-for-9 with four RBIs while Perella drove in five runs during game three and collected six hits throughout the series.
"I'm just seeing good pitches right now and trying not to chase anything out of the zone. I really our approach is to just hit good pitches and let the ball get there [depper in the zone].
Both have been reliable sluggers at the top of this North Texas batting lineup and have stayed consistent for most of the year. Gregory and Perella rank second and third on the team in batting average with a .368 and .366, respectively.
These two players head a dangerous North Texas lineup. When Katie Clark returns from injury, the Mean Green's top four in the lineup will be Clark (.419), Perella (.366), Gregory (.368) and Evans (.346). If that's not scary enough, Hanna Rebar's seven home runs follow just a few batters later. Nobody in Conference USA has the kind of firepower that North Texas does, and no pitching staff wants to have to deal with this lineup.
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