LAS VEGAS (Jan. 31, 2020) – Oklahoma Christian's remarkable run of dominance in neutral-site softball games finally ended on Friday, the opening day of the 2020 season, but not before the Eagles extended it with one more impressive win in the Desert Stinger.

OC ran roughshod over Central Washington, a NCAA Division II tournament qualifier last season, downing the Wildcats 11-3 in five innings at Majestic Park. But then the Eagles gave up a four-run sixth inning and fell 7-3 to Montana State-Billings, snapping their neutral-site winning streak at 11 games, a run that included a 10-0 mark last season.

OC (1-1) came out blazing against Central Washington (0-1), scoring four runs in both the first and second innings off the Wildcats' starting pitcher, Isabel Womack (0-1). All four runs in the first came with two outs, with two of them scoring on a home run by Lindsey Stoeckel. Kaitlyn Dennis smashed another two-run homer and freshman Tristyn Hamilton added a two-run infield single in the second.

Junior transfer Jaiden Johnson, in her OC debut, smacked a two-run single through the right side in the third to put the Eagles up 10-0. Paige Liikala hit a two-run homer for Central Washington in the fourth, accounting for the only runs the Wildcats scored against OC starter Ally Lewis (1-0).

Brie Dunckel's bunt single scored Hamilton to make it 11-2 in the bottom of the fourth. Central Washington scored once in the fifth, on a RBI double down the left-field line by Gracee Dwyer, but OC reliever Karrah Dean retired the final two batters on groundouts to end the game via the run rule.

The Eagles' bats continued to sizzle early against Montana State-Billings (1-0), as Stoeckel's single to left field keyed a two-run first inning. The Yellowjackets took advantage of two OC errors to tie the game in the top of the third inning, but the Eagles went back ahead 3-2 in the bottom of the inning when Johnson singled to center field, stole second and third base and scored on a single by Brianna Robinson.

OC managed only two hits the rest of the way. The Yellowjackets tied the game again in the fourth on a walk, two passed balls and a single, then seized control with a four-run fifth against Dean (0-1) and Lewis. Montana State-Billings loaded the bases, then scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch, another when Lewis hit a batter with the bases loaded and two more on a double by Cailee Morgan.

Alyssa Etheridge (1-0) pitched three innings of shutout relief to pick up the win for Montana State-Billings.

The neutral-site loss was the first for OC since the Eagles fell 5-4 in 13 innings to Rogers State in the 2018 Heartland Conference Championship tournament title game in San Antonio.

OC will play two more 2019 Division II tournament qualifiers on Saturday in the Desert Stinger – San Francisco State (Calif.) at 6:30 p.m. Central time and Western Oregon at 9 p.m.