OKLAHOMA CITY (March 15, 2019) – When Oklahoma Christian needed a pitch to escape an inning, or a hit to key a rally, the Eagles' seniors seemed to produce it on Friday against Texas A&M International.

Madison Hagood threw a complete-game two-hitter as OC won the Heartland Conference softball series opener 3-1, and the Eagles took the second game 6-3 thanks to strong relief pitching from Kaylie Upton and a three-run sixth inning outburst started by a third senior, Kayla Eichler. Yet another senior, Hunter Strickland, went 4 for 5 in the doubleheader with four stolen bases and two runs scored.

OC (20-5, 4-2 Heartland) will try to finish a five-game season-series sweep of TAMIU (12-15, 6-5) on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Tom Heath Field.

Hagood (9-2) picked up her third pitching win of the week, striking out eight batters while outdueling TAMIU starter Jenika Lombrana (5-7).

Upton staked the Eagles to a 2-0 lead in the second inning with a two-run double to left field that scored Strickland and Daelyn Denny. The Dustdevils scored their lone run in the third on Morgan Chavarria's RBI single to right field, but they didn't record another hit until the seventh inning.

OC added an insurance run in the fifth when Bridget White tripled and scored on a groundout by Eichler.

The Dustdevils took a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning of game two, with Lindsey Smith hitting a solo home run off OC starter Kali Crandall. But OC answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning, two scoring on a triple to left field by Eichler.

TAMIU tied the game 3-3 in the third on a run-scoring single by Briana Arredondo. When the Dustdevils threatened with two on and two outs in the fourth, Upton (3-1) moved to the circle and limited TAMIU to one hit the rest of the way.

OC broke through again against TAMIU starter Sara Caterson (5-5) in the sixth inning. Eichler hit a leadoff single to center field and Sydney Smith pinch-ran for her. After an error on a sacrifice bunt allowed Bailey Strecker to reach base, Lindsey Stoeckel delivered another sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position.

Denny's single to right field scored Smith and Payton Sabolski singled to score Strecker. Upton capped the rally with a single to right field that scored Denny to make it 6-3, then retired the Dustdevils in order in the top of the seventh.