Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 AUSTIN, Texas (April 12, 2017) – In what has become a wild Heartland Conference softball race, Oklahoma Christian desperately needed at least one win on Wednesday afternoon and Bridget White came through with the big hit to deliver it.

White's two-out, ninth-inning single scored pinch-runner Kenysha Noland – capping a three-RBI performance – and Madison Hagood shut down St. Edward's (Texas) in the bottom of the inning to seal a 4-3 win for the Lady Eagles at Diane Daniels Field.

St. Edward's came from behind to win the opener 9-2. The teams will play the decisive game of the three-game series on Thursday at 11 a.m.

Four teams are within a game of the Heartland lead. OC (27-18, 9-5) entered Wednesday tied for third and now is in a three-way tie with St. Mary's (Texas) and Texas A&M International, one game behind St. Edward's (18-25, 10-4). A win on Thursday would propel OC into a first-place tie with St. Edward's and the winner between St. Mary's and TAMIU, who are playing a series this week as well.

The Heartland regular-season champion will host the conference tournament.

In the second game, OC stranded two baserunners in each of the first two innings and the Hilltoppers took a 2-0 lead with two runs in the first inning and went up 3-0 in the second on Breah Whitten's RBI single. But OC starter Madison Nordyke (6-5) settled down after that, blanking the Hilltoppers over the next six innings.

White, a sophomore from Edmond, hit a two-run double to left-center field in the third to score Haley Squier and Nordyke, who each had singled.  Nordyke singled up the middle in the third inning to score Sheridan Bond, tying the game. But the Lady Eagles weren't able to advance a runner past second base for five more innings against St. Edward's starter Ashlee Rex (4-11).

Rex retired OC's first two batters in the top of the ninth before Niki Davidson singled up the middle. Noland, pinch-running for Davidson, went to second on a wild pitch and sprinted home on White's single up the middle.

Hagood pitched the bottom of the ninth for OC, retiring the Hilltoppers in order for her fifth save of the season (tied for third-best in Heartland history) and the seventh of her career (tied for fifth-best in league history). She's now one save from tying former OC standout Shea Coats for the school single-season record for saves.

Kayla Eichler gave OC a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning of the opener, singling down the right-field line to score Nordyke and Davidson, who started the innings with singles off St. Edward's ace Lauren Slatten. But those proved to be the Lady Eagles' only runs off Slatten (9-8).

Hagood (12-9), the Heartland's ERA leader, was undone by three hits and an error in the bottom of the fourth that led to four runs for St. Edward's, two of them unearned. The Hilltoppers added five runs – two on a single by Kayla Appleby – in the fifth against OC reliever Kaylie Upton to seal the win.