OC's three softball seniors—Davee Croy (left), Kayla Jennings (center) and Kimberly Cusher (right)—share a hug after the Lady Eagles fell 5-3 to Lubbock Christian on Saturday, likely ending their season.
By Murray Evans
OKLAHOMA CITY (May 5, 2012) – Oklahoma Christian had No. 5-ranked Lubbock Christian (Texas) right where the Lady Eagles wanted them. Then the Chaparrals brought in their ace to pitch and everything changed.
Sarah Mendez shut down OC during the last 3 1/3 innings, allowing Lubbock Christian to rally from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Lady Eagles 5-3 on Saturday afternoon in an elimination game in the Sooner Athletic Conference Championship at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium.
The loss on softball's most hallowed field likely ended OC's season at 35-17, as the Lady Eagles probably won't be ranked high enough to receive an at-large berth to the NAIA Championship in Gulf Shores, Ala., later this month. Regular-season SAC champion Lubbock Christian (52-6) will be going to nationals no matter how they might fare during the rest of the conference tournament.
"First of all, Lubbock is an awesome hitting team," OC coach Tom Heath said. "It was just a matter of time. I thought we did as good a job as we could have. Yeah, some things could have gone our way, but it wasn't meant to be. The better team won. I was proud of our kids for competing."
OC quickly jumped on Lubbock Christian starter Meagan Navarette. Kayla Jennings doubled to left-centerfield with two outs in the first inning and Kendra Pierce followed with a single to left to score Jennings.
In the fourth, Kala Ratliff led off with a single to right. One out later, Courtney Starr singled to center, and with two outs, Sarah Peoples beat out an infield single, allowing Ratliff to score. Monique Elliott followed with a shot off the glove of Lubbock Christian third baseman Latainna Eltsosie, which brought home Starr and put OC up 3-0.
At that point, Lubbock Christian coach Daren Hays brought in Mendez, who struck out Davee Croy to end the inning. That seemed to pump life into the Chaparrals and they scored all of their runs against OC starter Ashley Paxton (16-10) in the bottom of the fourth.
Mendez started the inning with a double to left field and scored on a single to left by Andrea Argee. Eltsosie singled to left and Stephanie Rendon followed with a three-run home run just inside the left-field foul pole to put the Chaparrals ahead 4-3. A walk and two fielding errors, by Peoples and Croy, led to a fifth run for Lubbock Christian.
The Lady Eagles put their first two runners on base in the top of the fifth, but Ratliff popped into a double play, with Pierce doubled off first base. In the sixth, Mendez (19-1) walked Megan Webb and Peoples with one out. Elliott's sacrifice bunt moved Webb to third and Peoples to second, but Croy struck out looking.
OC stranded nine baserunners, six of those in scoring position. But the Lady Eagles forced Lubbock Christian to use Mendez in the pitching circle in the first game on a day on which either OC or Lubbock Christian needed to win four games to take the tournament title.
"They did bring in their ace," Heath said. "We would have won the ballgame had they not. I really believe it."
OC was fourth in the conference tournament (behind Lubbock Christian, No. 15 Southern Nazarene and No. 3 Oklahoma City University) after a fifth-place regular-season finish. OC went 3-2 this season against the SAC's fourth-place regular-season finisher, No. 17 St. Gregory's, with one of those wins coming in the first round of the conference tournament.
OC was 37th in the balloting in the most recent NAIA coaches' poll and would need to move ahead of St. Gregory's and into the top 25 in the final ranking to have any hope of receiving an at-large bid to the national tournament.
That's not likely to happen, but Heath tried to see the silver lining. OC closed its season by winning nine of its last 12 games.
"With the injuries that we had, we finished about as strong as we could have," Heath said. "I was proud of them. Our effort was excellent. We've got three of the best captains we've had in years. Their leadership took us about as far as we could have gone. I appreciate each one of them – Kim Cusher, Davee Croy and Kayla Jennings."
