NT Softball Loses vs #5 Oklahoma

The North Texas softball team came into the match-up losing 15 of its last 17 games and dropping a doubleheader at Oklahoma State the night before.

Not exactly ideal conditions to play the fifth best team in the country -- for the second time this season.

But, the Mean Green had a pretty good effort and led for an inning and a half before giving up a history-making grand slam to Lauren Chamberlain in the 6-2 loss. The blast gave Chamberlain the 91st home run of her career, the most in NCAA history.

It was also a historic night for another reason as there was the largest crowd in program history.

691 fans in attendance tonight at Lovelace Stadium in Denton to witness history by @OU_Softball's @LChamberlain44! pic.twitter.com/ghNx49dhEp

— Mean Green Softball (@MeanGreenSB) May 1, 2015

Counting the number of fans when students get in free and don't have to swipe their I.D. cards is an inexact science, and to be frank most of those in the stands were OU faithful. But it was still cool to see that many people packed into the tissue-box-sized Lovelace Stadium that had two or three pairs of bleachers added down the first baseline.

Kenzie Grimes started just her fourth game of the season for North Texas. After the game she told she was fine with getting the nod, even though coach Kee didn't tell her until about 15 minutes before pre-game warm-ups.

She had a pretty good outing, but walked six Sooner batters in 3 2/3 innings. Mean Green catcher Bryanna Wade hit the two-run homer -- her sixth of the year.

Head coach Tracey Kee

Up next for the Mean Green is its biggest series of the season, and quite possibly its last. They'll play UTEP at home for three games. Which ever team wins the series will grab one of the final two spots in the Conference USA tournament. North Texas can only win the eighth seed, while UTEP can claim the seventh or eighth.

In my usual Tuesday afternoon interview with coach Kee, she told me she has no idea how this weekend will go because the team has played so inconsistently. They scored two runs against Oklahoma -- more than they did in two games combined at Louisiana Tech last weekend.

Her biggest complaint has been the competitiveness of her team. And effort is really not something you want to be worrying about heading to the year's deciding series.

(Speaking of Kenzie, here's a news package I did about her from last season)

Mean Green Softball Games Cancelled

The North Texas softball stadium on Wednesday night, April 22.

The Mean Green softball games against Stephen F. Austin were cancelled on April 22 because of rainy conditions earlier in the week, and the field at Lovelace just couldn't take all the water.

MeanGreenSports release: http://www.meangreensports.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/042115aab.html

This was disappointing for a couple of reasons: 1. I was going to be the public address announcer for the doubleheader, and 2. head coach Tracey Kee told me she was really looking forward to using these two games for her hitters to be able to see some different and live pitching.

Besides the obvious benefit of getting paid a little cash for doing the P.A., I really enjoy working with the softball team and the staff. I've done P.A. for six or seven softball games this season and they are extremely fun and a way to get some experience at a craft which I haven't really practiced since high school.

The locked gates at Lovelace Stadium. 

Also, the North Texas softball team could really have used some momentum on two probable wins against SFA. For the second straight week the Mean Green is clinging onto the eighth seed in the Conference USA Tournament -- if it started now. This would mean a first round match-up with Western Kentucky. NOT GOOD!

The Lady Toppers (yes, their university approved nickname) are the best team in C-USA and are led by one of the best pitchers in softball nationwide -- Miranda Kramer. She's earned six or seven C-USA Pitcher of the Week awards this season. And just this week Kramer did everything she could to help Western take down ranked Kentucky, before losing 1-0 in nine innings. Kramer had a no-hitter going through the regulation seven innings -- but her offense was handcuffed and chained to home plate it seems.

Anyways, these next two weekends are going to be vital for the Mean Green softball team. This weekend they face off against Louisiana Tech -- the team right above them in the West division standings. Then next weekend North Texas faces off against UTEP -- the team right below them in the West.

Good luck Mean Green, and hopefully I'll get to fill-in another time on the public address.

Late Post

I did not post yesterday, but I'll give a good post today and hopefully that will make up for my missed day.

Yesterday I performed double duty. I was the play-by-play broadcaster for the third round playoff game between Denton Ryan and Keller Fossil Ridge. What a game this was!

The Raiders were down 31-0 in the second quarter, before scoring right before halftime. Even with this score it really didn't look like Ryan was going to do much of anything in the second half. But the defensive line turned up, Fossil Ridge went away from what was working and the Ryan offense would not be denied.

The Raiders scored 42 unanswered points to come back and defeated Fossil Ridge and advance to the regional final against Cedar Hill on Saturday. This is really unexpected -- Ryan has been picked to lose in each of their first three playoff games, but they find a way to win each time.

They have a really gritty, tough team that is relentless and doesn't give up.

Here are some pictures from the game:

On the air about 25 minutes from when we went on-air (55 minutes before kick-off).

View from our position high atop Apogee Stadium -- shows the great crowds from Fossil Ridge and Ryan.

 Nice shot over the Wings section (I don't get why they call it the Wing...it's supposed to be the tail of an eagle, not the wing) to the skyline of UNT, TWU and Denton.

Shot over the video board and athletic department building showing the rural side and the trees changing colors in Fall.

The second part of my double job yesterday was to fill-in for George Dunham and Hank Dickenson for North Texas men's basketball game. George, Hank and company were in Tulsa broadcasting the UNT football game and wouldn't be back in time for the game.

Therefore I got called up from the battlefront to broadcast the men's game on the Mean Green Radio Network. The pre-game show was a little rocky, and the interview with the head coach left somethings lacking, but once the action got underway I felt like I was back in the saddle.

I did solo play-by-play of my high school's boys basketball games for three years, so I knew what to expect. One thing that did surprise me was the speed of the game. I expected the college game to be lighting quick compared to what I was used to, but it wasn't too difficult to keep track of. Obviously you don't call out every pass; you have to be selective with what you say and try to keep the most important information in the listeners' ears.

The podcast from the North Texas win over Southeastern is here, if you care to listen to it:
http://www.kntu.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6586:nt-75-southeastern-la-61&catid=5:sports-from-kntu&Itemid=7

Thanks for reading my blog, I hope you enjoyed it! I might just keep this going after my school project is over.

Mean Green games

I'm at the Super Pit tonight for the North Texas doubleheader basketball games. The women had a huge lead, but let it slip away and lost in overtime to Grand Canyon University. 

Right now the men are coasting to a win over Incarnate Word. I know a player on the UIW team so it was special to see him play a little. 

I'll have a big announcement about North Texas basketball tomorrow so look out for that. 

Here's a picture of the action right now. 

Coach Mac

I received a text message today explaining what was talked about in the Coach McCarney press conference. Coach Mac is the head football coach at UNT and I board-op his weekly coaches show so I get to hear his same six or seven sayings every Monday. 

One of the interesting things that went through my mind is if there's another head college coach in Texas that could beat up Coach Mac. Now Coach Mac is in his early-to-mid 60s, but the guy is insane. I remember covering one of the first pressers of the season in September and watching him run the stairs of the football stadium after the conference. 

Here's part of the show Beyond the Green where they delved into Coach Mac and his impressive work ethic, but the health problems he has dealt with recently. 

Coach Mac suffered a stroke a year and a half ago. After being treated he was quoted as saying "Nothing a little Grey Goose can't fix." I love the attitude Coach Mac has!  

Football Saturday

Today has been an insane day for football. One of the biggest things I do is broadcast high school football at the radio station. Today we broadcasted the area round match-up between Denton Ryan and Waco Midway. This looked like it could be Ryan's last game of the season because Midway, from our research, appeared to be a great team.

Not only was this a great battle, but it was an 11am kickoff, which means 10:30am air time. My alarm went off before 7am, which should almost be criminal for a Saturday morning, but it was all worth it.

The game did not disappoint -- really our first close game of the year so far. Ryan was down by 13 points at halftime, but came back to score 17 unanswered and finish it out 34-33 over Midway. What a great game and a great experience because it was at AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Here are some pics I snapped before we went on the air this morning.

This is our view from our radio booth. Being in the corner is a bit strange because of the angles. You have to keep in mind how you say left, right, near sideline, and far sideline when you aren't on a normal sideline.

The North Texas football game, well, that left a lot of things to desire. But if I were to dwell into that it would need a new blog post.