SAN ANTONIO (May 3, 2017) – Oklahoma Christian now is on the outside looking in when it comes to a potential berth in the NCAA Division II softball tournament, but the Lady Eagles have a stellar opportunity to burnish their resume this week in the Heartland Conference Championship.
No. 3 seed OC (31-21) will face No. 2 seed Lubbock Christian (Texas) at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday in the first round, looking to eventually emerge from a five-team tournament that OC coach
Tom Heath says is "wide open."
The Heartland tournament winner will receive an automatic berth in the NCAA Division II tournament – no doubt a huge carrot of motivation, as outside of top-seeded host (and regular-season conference champ) St. Mary's (Texas), no other Heartland team has yet secured a postseason spot.
OC currently is not in the top 10 in the South Central Region rankings, while league runner-up Lubbock Christian (35-16) is at No. 9, with eight teams making the regional field. OC won the regular-season series from LCU, taking two of three games in Oklahoma City on April 7-8 but the Chaparrals finished a game ahead of OC in the season standings.
Outstanding pitching and solid hitting have been OC's formula for success during a season in which the Lady Eagles have competed – and often thrived – with only 11 healthy players. Sophomore left-hander
Madison Hagood (15-10, 1.58 ERA) was named Wednesday as the Heartland's pitcher of the year, and junior right-hander
Madison Nordyke (7-7, 2.83 ERA) also won a game against LCU last month, taking a perfect game into the sixth inning.
Four OC starters –
Haley Squier,
Bridget White,
Sheridan Bond and Nordyke – are hitting above .300 and four others have batting averages above .250, meaning there's not a soft spot in the Lady Eagles' offensive lineup.
The same could be said for Lubbock Christian, as the Chaparrals lead the conference in team batting average at .330. The Chaparrals average 6.23 runs per game and also top the Heartland with a .475 slugging percentage. Sydney Beuthien led the league in RBIs (56), home runs (18), slugging percentage (.799) and total bases (115), while Addison Ard has hit .382 with seven home runs and 32 RBIs.
Katera Eltsosie likely will draw the pitching assignment for the Chaparrals against OC. She is 8-5 this season with a 2.08 RA and 101 strikeouts.
Fourth-seeded Texas A&M International (18-33) and fifth-seeded Newman (Kan.) (17-33) meet in the tournament's first game at 11 a.m. Thursday, with the winner to play St. Mary's (40-12) at 4 p.m. The TAMIU-Newman loser and the OC-LCU loser will meet in an elimination game at 6:30 p.m.
The winner's bracket final will be at noon on Friday, with elimination games to follow at 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. The championship round will begin Saturday at noon.
