BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA -- Another weekend, another sweep. North Texas had a pair of 3-1 victories on Saturday and a 5-1 win on Sunday. The Mean Green outscored UAB 16-3 throughout the weekend and remain tied for first place in Conference USA with Louisiana Tech -- the Mean Green hold the tiebreaker over the Lady Techsters after taking two of three in Ruston earlier this season.
"We wanted to have an opportunity to win the conference in the last weekend, and here we are," coach Rodney DeLong said. "The girls have grinded through a tough schedule. We've won big games on the road, won big games at home and given ourselves a chance."
Four big takeaways from series sweep over UAB (15-31, 5-16 C-USA):
1. Tindell and Trautwein dominate
Despite being in last place of Conference USA, UAB came into the weekend hitting .287 as a team, which is the fourth highest of all C-USA teams. However, the North Texas pitching staff seemed to be zoned in and allowed just one run each game.
Trautwein started the dominant weekend off with a complete game in game one and allowed just five hits while striking out three and walking one. She improved her record to 19-6 and her ERA lowered to 2.40, which is good for fourth place in C-USA.
Although Trautwein will continue to be the Mean Green's No. 1 pitcher this season, pitching coach Jamie Allred has done a tremendous job in helping Bailey Tindell grow over the last two months. After enduring an injury last fall and starting off with several rocky outings in non-conference, Tindell has gained confidence throughout the last couple months.
During conference play, Tindell has a 3.07 ERA, and that stat doesn't include today's game.
The freshman from Salado, Texas, went the distance in the final two games of this weekend's series. In game two, Tindell only allowed two hits and didn't walk a single batter. Her game three performance was almost as dominant, allowing four hits during the 5-1 win.
"[Tindell] has gotten better and better as we've gone," DeLong said. "I'm proud of her improvement. What I really liked about today was her speed and velocity. She kept her velocity up into the 70-and-80 pitch count, so her cardio is getting better and she's getting stronger down the finish."
"The team's confidence in her has grown and it's happening at the right time. Bailey was great and I'm proud of her."
North Texas has a chance to do some real damage in the postseason if this staff continues to develop the way it has over the last two months.
3. DeLong sets another program record in first year at UNT
After the pair of victories on Saturday, North Texas (32-16, 17-4 C-USA) set the program record for most wins in a single season -- the previous record was 30. Just in case we need to remind you, this is Rodney DeLong's first season as head coach at UNT.
When a program experiences a coaching change, rebuilding and a couple seasons losing seasons will sometimes follow. With DeLong and his staff, that's not the case.
DeLong has proven himself a winner everywhere he's been. In his four years as head coach at Cameron University, a Division 2 school in Oklahoma, DeLong amassed a record 105-60 and led the program to its first ever Division 2 NCAA Tournament appearance.
Last season at Austin Peay was DeLong's first season as a Division 1 head coach. He led the Governors to their first winning season in program history (39-19) and a second round appearance in the National Invitation Softball Championship.
North Texas got a huge steal when they hired DeLong, and results are starting to back that up.
2. Fielding was near perfect
One flaw of North Texas during non-conference play was defense. DeLong said multiple times throughout non-conference that defense was an area for "improvement."
UAB has put the ball in play more than any team in C-USA this year, so the Mean Green defense had to be sharp.
However, something has clicked since conference play started. Since Mar. 9, UNT is second in C-USA with a .973 fielding percentage.
During the three-game series, North Texas only committed one error while the Blazers only struck out five times. That's a lot of plays to be made in the field, and the North Texas defense was up to the task this week.
4. Timely hits
Katie Clark hit an RBI double in the seventh inning to give UNT a 2-1 lead in game one. During Perella's at-bat, Clark stole third and forced the UAB catcher to throw make a bad throw, allowing Clark to come in and give North Texas a much-need insurance run.
Hannah Gerecke made timely hits throughout the series, including an RBI double in both game two and three. She was a huge catalyst for this North Texas offense this weekend.
Rhylie Makawe went 2-for-3 with a run scored in game two.
Perella lined a 2-RBI double in game three's 5-1 win, and Tayla Evans went 2-for-3 with a run scored.
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