OKLAHOMA CITY (March 11, 2019) – Fort Hays State (Kan.) showed Oklahoma Christian perhaps the best pitching the Eagles have faced this softball season. Fortunately for OC, Madison Hagood and Kali Crandall matched the Tigers in the circle.

Hagood and Crandall combined to pitch 15 shutout innings as OC swept a hard-fought doubleheader on Monday afternoon at Tom Heath Field, winning both games by a 1-0 count.

"Any time you win, you should be happy, but it's a little frustrating when you only put up two runs in 15 innings," OC coach Shanon Hays said. "We'd been hitting the ball pretty well and creating some offense. To their credit, (Fort Hays State) pitched it very well. They have pitched well all year. But luckily, our two pitchers threw great today and our defense was really solid and we scored when we needed to."

Hagood (8-2) picked up both pitching wins. The senior left-hander from Comanche, Texas, struck out nine batters and allowed only three hits in the opener, then relieved Crandall in the eighth inning and added another strikeout while preventing the Tigers from scoring. Crandall, a freshman right-hander from Artesia, N.M., had fanned 10 batters while allowing four hits in the first seven innings.

OC (18-5) has posted three shutouts in its last four games and Hagood has been involved in three of them.

"They had command and they were hitting their spots," Hays said of Crandall and Hagood. "Both of them had their riseballs going today. … I thought it was a good combination with those two at the end. It's great to see Madison Hagood come in and be the pitcher she was a couple of years ago (when she was the Heartland Conference's pitcher of the year). That makes us a good club, when we play defense behind her."

In the opener, Hagood outdueled the Tigers' Michaelanne Nelson (2-3). Only one Fort Hays State runner advanced as far as second base and all but two of the Tigers' starters struck out at least once.

The Eagles finally broke through against Nelson in the sixth. With one out, Bailey Strecker singled to left field and Sydney Smith pinch-ran for her and stole second base. Lindsey Stoeckel followed with an infield single, moving Smith to third. Nelson uncorked a wild pitch that advanced Stoeckel, but the ball bounced directly back to catcher Sara Breckbill, who tagged out Smith at home plate.

Fortunately for the Eagles, their hottest hitter, Kayla Eichler, was up to bat, and the senior capped a 3-for-3 performance with a bloop single to right field that scored Stoeckel. Hagood retired the Tigers in order in the seventh to seal the win.

"Kayla had a great day," Hays said. "She had almost half of our hits."

The second game proved much like the first, with Crandall and Fort Hays State starter Hailey Chapman (4-3) trading shutout innings nearly all the way. OC stranded at least one baserunner in scoring position in each of the first four innings and Chapman retired 12 straight batters between the fourth and the eighth innings.

The Tigers' best opportunity came in the sixth, when Grace Philop walked , stole second base and became the only Fort Hays State player on the day to reach third base, doing so on an infield single by Bailey Boxberger. Crandall settled down and struck out pinch-hitter Allie Jurgensen to end the threat.

Using the international tiebreaker rule, each team had a runner placed at second base in the eighth inning. The Tigers failed to advance theirs while facing Hagood in the top of the inning. Caitlin Young started at second base for OC and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Brie Dunckel. Hunter Strickland walked before Bridget White sent a deep fly ball to center field that fell in for a single, scoring Young.

"We left way too many runners on today," Hays said. "It was good that Bridget came up and really drilled the ball and swung the bat well at the end."

OC's scheduled doubleheader Tuesday against No. 15-ranked Texas A&M-Kingsville was cancelled due to the threat of rain. The Eagles' next games will be Friday, when they will host Texas A&M International for a 5 p.m. Heartland Conference doubleheader.

Shanon Hays discusses the doubleheader: https://youtu.be/MtOtOcyKDcQ