OKLAHOMA CITY (March 23, 2019) – Oklahoma Christian softball coach
Shanon Hays feared his team was due for one of "those" games and it happened Saturday afternoon at Tom Heath Field.
The Eagles managed only four hits and failed to take advantage of their scoring opportunities, allowing St. Edward's (Texas) to salvage the final game of a three-game series with a 3-0 win.
Despite the loss, OC (23-6, 7-3 Heartland Conference) remained atop the league standings, although the Eagles' nine-game winning streak – their longest in two seasons – now is history.
"Today, we were offensively terrible," Hays said. "Their pitcher did a good job of throwing a little flip-drop-change to us and we never could pick it up from her."
OC seemed out of sorts offensively in its games on Friday against St. Edward's (8-14, 5-9) but managed to scratch out a pair of wins by 5-2 and 4-3 counts.
But on Saturday, the Eagles couldn't figure out St. Edward's starter Julisa Ortega (3-3), who struck out four batters and escaped unscathed every time OC seemed to threaten. Three times – in the second, fourth and sixth innings – the Eagles had runners in scoring position with less than one out but came away empty.
"She started to hit her spots really good," Hays said of Ortega. "We've got to make adjustments. Basically, I felt like we did a good job of beating us today. We won the game but they got the 'W' for it."
The Hilltoppers went up 1-0 in the second inning against OC starter
Madison Hagood (11-3), as Lauren Garza walked leading off and scored on a ground-rule double by Shelby Janda. St. Edward's picked up two more runs in the third, with Morgan Lewis and Kayla Appleby starting the inning with singles and taking advantage of a passed ball, a wild pitch, a stolen base and a sacrifice fly to score.
The inning could have been worse for OC, as the Hilltoppers had runners at first and third with one out, but the Eagles turned a nifty 2-4-2-5 double play on an attempted delayed double steal, throwing out Kylie Mica at home plate before nailing pinch-runner Olivia Burdick at third base.
Reliever
Kali Crandall limited the Hilltoppers to one hit in 4 1/3 innings of relief.
OC will return to action next Friday in Wichita, Kan., when they will begin a three-game Heartland series at Newman.