Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 PORTALES, N.M. (March 7, 2017) – Oklahoma Christian isn't known for its home-run hitting, but the Lady Eagles rode the longball to a doubleheader sweep at Eastern New Mexico on Tuesday afternoon.
OC smashed two home runs in each game while prevailing 7-3 and 12-7 over their Lone Star Conference foe at Greyhound Park. The Lady Eagles – who entered the day with only eight homers on the softball season – improved to 3-0 on the season against the Greyhounds.
OC (14-9) will carry a six-game winning streak into Heartland Conference play, which will begin on Friday with a doubleheader against Oklahoma Panhandle State at
Tom Heath Field in Oklahoma City.
In the opener,
Sheridan Bond homered off Eastern New Mexico starter Kaylee Rogers (9-7) to lead off the game, starting a 3-for-4 performance at the plate for the OC junior. Before the top of the first had finished,
Kaylie Upton had delivered her first career home run, a three-run shot that put the Lady Eagles up 4-0.
OC starter
Madison Hagood (7-4) escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the third after allowing only one run and the Lady Eagles extended their lead to 6-1 in the fourth on RBI singles by Bond and
Bridget White.
Caitlin Young's single to center field scored
Kayla Eichler (who had doubled) to make it 7-1 in the fifth.
Eastern New Mexico (13-16) scored twice in the fifth off Hagood but again left the bases loaded.
Madison Nordyke relieved Hagood to start the sixth and pitched two scoreless innings to finish off the win for OC.
Haley Squier and White each hit a run-scoring double as OC took a 3-1 lead in the third inning of the second game and Squier's second career home run – her first since her sophomore season – was a three-run blast that put the Lady Eagles up 6-1.
The Greyhounds got a run back in the fourth on Katie Ripple's solo home run, then used a five-run fifth-inning outburst – keyed by a two-run triple by Adriana Carbajal – to take a 7-6 lead.
But OC responded with two big innings to close the game. White's double down the left-field line scored Squier (who had walked) to tie the game and Upton's single up the middle off Kiana Zerr (2-6) put OC ahead to stay.
In the seventh, Bond and Squier started the inning with doubles to center and right-center, respectively, making it 9-7. White greeted Ripple (who relieved Zerr) with a two-run homer to center field – White's fourth homer of the season. Young later added a run-scoring single to make it 12-7.
Nordyke, who started the game for OC and pitched the first four innings, re-entered the circle with two on and no outs in the seventh and finished the game, coaxing a double-play grounder from Haley Johnston and a game-ending flyout from Kamalani Peneku.
Upton (3-0) picked up the pitching win for OC with 1 2/3 innings of relief. Squier finished with a career-high five RBIs for OC after going 3-for-3 and scoring four runs, while White went 3-for-5 with four RBIs and scored three runs. Bond, Upton and Eichler each had a pair of hits for OC.
