Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 SAN ANTONIO (April 28, 2016) – Oklahoma Christian survived a tumultuous opening day of the Heartland Conference softball tournament, during which lower seeds won two of the four games played at the St. Mary's Softball Stadium.
OC almost made it three of four, but dropped its opener to second-seeded Lubbock Christian (Texas) 1-0 on Thursday. The third-seeded Lady Eagles bounced back to down fourth-seeded St. Edward's (Texas) 3-1 in an elimination game.
Next up for OC (27-25) will be No. 9-ranked and top-seeded St. Mary's (Texas), which dropped into the losers' bracket after falling to fifth-seeded Texas A&M International 4-3. TAMIU earlier had beaten St. Edward's 5-4.
If the Lady Eagles beat St. Mary's (40-10), they would face the loser of the winners' bracket final between Lubbock Christian and TAMIU. A loss at any point would end OC's season.
Against Lubbock Christian (43-12), OC freshman left-hander
Madison Hagood threw a six-hitter, but one of those hits was a sixth-inning solo home run over the center field wall by Lubbock Christian's Morgan Colburn, who leads NCAA Division II in that category with 24.
Lubbock Christian reliever Katlyn Holmes (19-4) picked up the win after combining with Kelsey Hoppel on a five-hit shutout.
OC's best chance to score came in the fourth inning, when
Haley Squier walked and reached third base with no outs. A wild pitch by Hoppel allowed OC's
Niki Davidson to move from second to third base, but Hoppel retrieved the ball and threw out Squier at home plate as Squier tried to score. Hoppel then retired
Bridget White and
Kayla Eichler on ground balls to end the inning.
The Lady Eagles seized control against St. Edward's (26-24) in the third inning against the Heartland's pitcher of the year, Lauren Slatten.
Jordan Chism reached on an error before pinch-runner
Avery Walker stole second base with one out.
With two outs,
Madison Nordyke and Squier both reached on infield singles against Slatten (18-11), with Squier's hit scoring Walker. Davidson singled up the middle to score Nordyke for a 2-0 OC lead.
Kaci Olson walked and scored on Brittney Bryson's single to right field in the top of the fifth to pull the Hilltoppers within 2-1, but
Sheridan Bond answered with a solo home run over the left-field wall in the bottom of the fifth to extend OC's lead to 3-1.
The Hilltoppers had two baserunners with two outs in the sixth, but Hagood (18-10) retired pinch-hitter Shelbi Roohms on a ground ball to end the threat. OC ended the game in the seventh with its second double play of the game and its league-leading 27th of the season.
