Game one box
Game two box

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (April 25, 2009) – Oklahoma Christian University earned two comeback victories over Southern Nazarene University (Okla.) on "Senior Day" Saturday.

The Lady Eagles used an eight-run fourth to pick up an 11-3 run-rule win in the first game before earning a come-from-behind 6-5 victory in the nightcap.

Oklahoma Christian secured a fourth-place finish in the Sooner Athletic Conference with the wins. The Lady Eagles (32-17, 15-9 SAC) will take part in the conference tournament next weekend at Oklahoma City's Hall of Fame Stadium Complex.

OC enters the postseason event on a roll. The Lady Eagles have won seven of their past eight games, including two wins over top-six opponents (No. 5 St. Gregory's, No. 6 Oklahoma City).

In Saturday's first game, Southern Nazarene (33-17, 9-15 SAC) led 3-0 after four and a half innings after OC failed to record a hit off Crimson Storm starter Andrea Pare. But the Lady Eagles figured out the right-hander in the fourth inning, and after 11 batters came to the plate and produced eight runs on six hits, the game was blown open. 

Tiffany Sherman drove in a run on a SNU error to start the push, then senior Cara Miller bounced a run-scoring single through the right side to bring OC within 3-2. Kayla Jennings sent a bases-clearing, three-RBI double into the left-centerfield alleyway to give the Lady Eagles a 5-3 edge, and the offense wasn't done yet.

Amber Canady clocked a two-RBI double with two outs, then came around to score on a dropped popup on the SNU infield to make it 8-3 Lady Eagles.

Caitlin Matthies held the Crimson Storm scoreless in the top of the fifth before OC put the game away with three runs in the bottom half.

Senior Tracy Washam led off the frame with a double before Miller worked a base on balls. Then Jennings ended the game with one swing of the bat by cranking a long home run over the left-field wall to bring the game to a run-rule conclusion.

Jennings – a freshman out of Ft. Worth, Texas – went for six RBIs in the opener on a 2-for-3 day at the plate. Canady and Washam were each 2-for-3 as well and Matthies got the relief win with a strikeout in 1.1 scoreless innings. 

The nightcap saw SNU leap out to a 5-0 cushion after only two innings. The Crimson Storm plated three runs in the first and two more in the second.

The score was still 5-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth when OC finally got to Pare. Four of the first five batters in the inning hit singles, and Washam's bases-loaded hit sent two runs home.

Then in the sixth, OC edged within 5-3 when Ashley Noles and Christin Dobbs ripped back-to-back doubles. Senior Casey Brady then tied the game when she singled past the shortstop to bring in Dobbs, and Canady hustled home all the way from first after the shortstop misplayed the ball into foul territory.

Finally Washam put OC ahead when she waited back on an off-speed pitch and laced it into the left-field corner to plate Brady and make it 6-5 OC.

Matthies – who replaced Leigh Leonard in the sixth – got her second relief win of the day after holding SNU back in the seventh. The Littleton, Colo., sophomore improved to 8-5 on the season.

Washam went 2-for-3 with three RBIs in her final home game, and Brady had a 3-for-4 effort in her farewell contest. Dobbs was a perfect 4-for-4 with a run and RBI in the nightcap, and Noles was 2-for-3.

Brady, Linzi Farris, Miller and Washam were each honored in a pregame ceremony.

-OC-