TROY, Ala. — Freshman Mallory Cantler hit a walk-off home run to give the North Texas softball team a 4-3 victory against Florida Atlantic on Thursday in an elimination game at the Sun Belt Conference tournament at the Troy Softball Complex.

The Mean Green (26-32) improved to 3-1 this season against the Owls. With the victory, North Texas sent home the defending conference champions with two losses in the tournament.

“The pitchers are putting us in good position to win games,” said North Texas head coach TJ Hubbard. “Jen [Smith] threw a great game today. It took us a while to get our offense going, but we were able to get three runs in the fifth. I think the offense got better as the game wore on.”

Cantler hit her sixth home run of the season with the game tied at 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh.

The win keeps the Mean Green alive in the tournament with a 1-1 record. UNT will play No. 3 Troy for the second time in the tournament at 10 a.m. today.

“The freshmen have been a big part of our success this year, and today showed that,” said Hubbard. “Mallory showed a lot of composure for a freshman when she hit that home run. She did not give in to the pressure, and it makes me excited about the future.”

Kristina Fowler picked up the win in the game by just facing one batter. With the game tied at 3-3 and the bases loaded in the top of the seventh inning with two outs, the senior came on and forced a groundout to keep the game tied.

Mariza Martinez gave North Texas a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning with her eighth home run of the season. The eight home runs ties for the team lead along with Rebecca Waters. Cantler followed with a single, and Sarah Jones knocked her home with an RBI single. North Texas added a third run off an FAU error.

Florida Atlantic tied the game in the top of the seventh with three runs off of four walks and two hits.

Jennifer Smith pitched six scoreless innings before giving up three runs in the seventh. All three North Texas pitchers saw action in the seventh inning