ARLINGTON, Texas – Missouri State dropped a pair of extra-innings heartbreakers here Saturday at the second day of the Boerner Invitational.

After falling 2-1 in eight innings to North Texas in game one, the Bears (7-6) suffered a 3-2 loss in 10 innings at the hands of host, UT Arlington in game two.

Game 1
UNT 2, Bears 1 (8 inn.)
Missouri State fell 2-1 to North Texas (10-4) in eight innings for the second straight year after their 2020 matchup at the UNT Invitational (Feb. 15, 2020) resulted in the same manner.
 
With the international tiebreaker rule in effect, the Mean Green's Katy Truitt stole third and then scored the game-winning run on a sac fly to left field to spoil the Bears' first extra-inning game of the season.
 
Steffany Dickerson (2-4) battled toe-to-toe with UNT's Hope Trautwein as the pitcher's duel kept things quiet thru five innings.  Dickerson relied on her defense and four well-timed strikeouts to keep the Mean Green lineup at bay and match Trautwein's performance which was bolstered by 13 K's.
 
A Darian Frost leadoff single in the sixth cracked Trautwein's no-hit bid and culminated with the first run of the game.  After pinch-runner Skyler Shaw advanced to third on consecutive groundouts, the freshman outfielder raced home on a passed ball to produce the Bears' run. 
 
North Texas answered in the bottom half of the sixth after back-to-back hits set the stage while its ensuing base running prompted a Bears misfire and led to the tying run.  Dickerson and the MSU defense dug deep to minimize the damage with a pair of strikeouts and a heads-up play at first by Tess Weakly who threw home to prevent another run coming across.
 
Frost collected MSU's only hit in the contest and added an eighth-inning walk to reach base safely for the second time.
 
Game 2
UTA 2, Bears 1 (10 inn.)
For the second straight game, MSU pushed its foe to extra innings, but another sac fly put the Bears on the wrong side of a 3-2 defeat. 

A sac bunt and a fly ball to the outfield were all the components the Mavericks (2-9) needed to walk off the 10-inning thriller.
 
The Bears found themselves in the middle of another pitching battle with runs hard to come by for both sides.  Both teams tallied seven hits in the game with the MSU defense leaving 14 Mavericks stranded on base.
 
Alex Boze blasted her first home run of the season with a solo shot in the second inning to give MSU an early 1-0 lead.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, UTA strung together four hits that plated two runs to overtake the Bears heading into the seventh.
 
Down to their last out, the Bears scored the game-tying run on a single off the bat of Weakly.  Her well-placed ball to left field and the ensuing errant throw allowed Shaw to come home and force another extra-time contest.
 
Gracie Johnston (2-1) drew the start in the circle and pitched the first three innings before re-entering the game in the bottom of the sixth.  She finished with a pitching line of 7.1IP, 3H, 0ER, and 5K. 
 
Weakly went 3-4 at the plate with three singles and adding a walk to her game-two outing.
 
Missouri State closes out the weekend tournament with a top-25 matchup against No. 23 Iowa State tomorrow (March 7) with first pitch set for 9 a.m.