OKLAHOMA CITY (Feb. 21, 2020) – Two complete-game pitching performances, a gutty win, a big inning and a moonshot home run for a newcomer in her first appearance in an Oklahoma Christian softball uniform – there was a bit of everything for the Eagles on Friday at Tom Heath Field.

OC rode a 12-strikeout performance in the circle by Kali Crandall to a 3-1 win over Pittsburg State, then capped the first day of the third weekend of the Edmond Regional Festival with a 9-0 romp over Nebraska-Kearney that featured home runs by Brianna Robinson and Abbey Parks.

The wins set up OC (14-3) for a big showdown Saturday against its former Heartland Conference rival, No. 22-ranked Rogers State (15-3). OC won five of its six meetings last season against the Hillcats, including in the first round of the conference tournament. Rogers State now is in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association while OC has moved into the Lone Star Conference.

Crandall was masterful against Pittsburg State (3-13), allowing only five hits, matching her career high for strikeouts and not allowing a baserunner to advance past second base until the sixth inning.

OC staked her to a quick lead in the first inning against Pittsburg State starter Madison Morris (1-2), with Jaiden Johnson's double scoring Brie Dunckel and Johnson then brazenly stealing home when Morris had her back turned.

Johnson scored again in the fifth, on a single up the middle by Katelyn Dunckel, making it 3-0. The Gorillas threatened in both the sixth and seventh innings against Crandall (7-0), scoring once in the sixth but stranding two baserunners in both innings.

Aggressive baserunning by Brie Dunckel in the first inning against Nebraska-Kearney (6-6) resulted in a defensive lapse that allowed her to score to put OC ahead of the Lopers 1-0.

OC piled on against the Lopers' starter, Erin Hallman (2-3) in the third, taking advantage of two dropped fly balls to score five unearned runs. Robinson had the big blow, a three-run home run to left-center field that put the Eagles up 6-0.

In the seventh, OC coach Shanon Hays used nothing but pinch-hitters to produce three runs to end the game via the run rule. Logan Menzies led off and singled to left field and eventually stole both second base and home, the latter as part of a double steal with Daelyn Denny, who ran the bases after Kaitlyn Dennis drew a walk.

Jillian Bouse struck out, but Parks – a member of OC's bowling team, playing in her first game with the Eagles after transferring from Cowley County (Kan.), where she also was a two-sport athlete – launched her two-run shot over the left-field fence.

OC junior Lindsey Stoeckel (5-1) scattered four hits and struck out four Lopers while going the distance. Only one Nebraska-Kearney runner advanced as far as second base.