Game one box
Game two box

BETHANY, Okla. (March 3, 2009) - Oklahoma Christian University split a softball doubleheader with Sooner Athletic Conference rival Southern Nazarene University (Okla.) on Tuesday. The Lady Eagles were blanked 5-0 in the opener before erupting for 16 hits in a 9-6 victory in the second game.

Oklahoma Christian is now 3-3 in conference play and 5-5 overall. The Lady Eagles will play five non-conference games at the Friends (Kan.) University round robin tournament this weekend.

After struggling offensively in the opener on Tuesday, the Lady Eagles put together their highest hit total of the season in the nightcap (16-for-33). Five players had more than one hit with junior centerfielder Christin Dobbs leading the charge with a 5-for-5, four-RBI effort.

The Lady Eagles scored in all but two innings in the win, and they took an early 2-0 lead in the second frame when Dobbs singled in Ashley Noles and Tiffany Sherman.

Southern Nazarene (9-1, 1-1 SAC) answered with three runs in the third inning to briefly go on top. But OC came right back with a four-spot in the top of the fourth to blow the game open. Casey Brady had the big hit in the inning with a double that pushed two runners across.

The Lady Eagles then got single-run outings in the fifth, sixth and seventh to secure the victory.

Brady went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs in the second game. Amy Urbanovsky (1-for-3) also drove in a pair, while Sherman (2-for-4, triple), Noles (2-for-3) and Kayla Jennings (2-for-4) all had two-hit performances.

In the circle, sophomore Caitlin Matthies went the distance to improve to 2-1 on the season. The right-hander struck out three and gave up six runs (four earned) in seven innings of work.

A five-run SNU second inning was all the Storm needed in the day's first game. The home team scored twice on a passed ball, once on a Lady Eagle error, and twice more on a two-run homer by Katie Hale.

OC managed only four hits off SNU starter Andrea Pare, who picked up the complete-game win with eight strikeouts. Linzi Farris (1-2) took the loss for the Lady Eagles after giving up five unearned runs in 1.2 innings. Sophia McKean relieved Farris in the second and turned in 4.1 innings of scoreless work.

Dobbs (1-for-3), Canady (1-for-3), Tracy Washam (1-for-2) and Noles (1-for-2) recorded OC's four hits.

-OC-