![North Texas Hands UL Softball Their First Loss](https://townsquare.media/site/37/files/2019/02/sarahhudek2.jpg?w=980&q=75)
North Texas Hands UL Softball Their First Loss
The season-opening softball win streak is over for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns.
10th-ranked Louisiana suffered their first loss of the year on Saturday, falling to the North Texas Mean Green, 5-1, in the semifinals of the Baylor Invitational in Waco, Texas.
The setback put an end to UL's 14-game season-opening win streak, their longest since winning 14-straight games to begin the 2015 campaign.
The Cajuns, who defeated North Texas, 10-2, earlier on Saturday, entered the single elimination bracket portion of the tournament as the unbeaten top-seed, while the Mean Green, who went winless in the round-robin portion of the event, was the #4-seed.
North Texas got on the scoreboard first, plating two runs in the top half of the first inning, when Lacy Gregory belted a two-run home run, her second of the season, to give them a quick 2-0 lead.
The score stayed that way until the top half of the 4th inning, when the Mean Green added an unearned run, to extend their advantage to 3-0, prior to a run-scoring single by Gregory in the 5th, to make it 4-0.
Louisiana scored their lone run in the bottom half of the 5th inning, when Raina O'Neal crushed a solo homer, her 4th of the season, to trim the deficit to 4-1.
The Mean Green added an insurance run in the 6th, when Jenna Goodrich singled home a run, to widen the gap to 5-1.
That would be all North Texas would need, as they went on to the 5-1 triumph.
North Texas, who outhit UL, 6-3, was paced at the plate by Gregory, who went 3-for-4 with a run scored and three runs batted in, while O'Neal homered in a losing cause for the Cajuns.
Hope Trautwein (5-1) recorded the win in the circle for the Mean Green, limiting Louisiana to only one run on three hits over 7 innings of work.
Summer Ellyson (8-1) suffered the loss for UL, allowing 4 runs on 4 hits in 5 innings.
With the victory, North Texas improved to 9-4 on the season, while the Cajuns fell to 14-1.
Louisiana will take on either Kent St. or Baylor in the consolation game on Sunday morning.
First-pitch is scheduled for 10 am.
You can listen to all the play-by-play action on ESPN 1420, espn1420.com, and the ESPN 1420 Mobile App, beginning with the pregame show at 9:45.
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