COMMERCE, Texas (March 8, 2020) – Batting at the bottom of Oklahoma Christian's lineup,
Daelyn Denny came up with the biggest hit of the day for the Eagles on Sunday at Texas A&M-Commerce.
Denny's two-out, two-run home run in the fifth inning put the 18th-ranked Eagles ahead and pitcher
Kali Crandall made it stand up to give OC a 4-3 win over No. 14 TAMUC in the second game of a doubleheader at Cain Family Field. TAMUC rallied for a 3-1 win over the Eagles in the opener, the first time this softball season a ranked team had defeated OC.
The split kept OC (21-5, 6-2 Lone Star Conference) in third place in the LSC standings, trailing only Tarleton State (Texas) and West Texas A&M, who are 6-0 and 4-0, respectively, in league play. TAMUC (16-7, 5-3) is one of four teams a game behind OC.
In the second game, OC jumped on TAMUC starter Alyssa LeBlanc (8-3) for a pair of runs in the top of the first inning.
Kelsey Gammage singled to left field and
Jaiden Johnson followed with a triple to right-center to score Gammage. Johnson scored herself on a sacrifice fly by
Brianna Robinson.
Chealsea Slider hit a solo home run for the Lions in the second inning and TAMUC added two more runs in the third on a double by LeBlanc to go ahead 3-2.
With two outs in the fifth,
Hannah Pate singled through the left side of the infield and Denny, a junior from Owasso, Okla., put the Eagles back on top with her homer over the left-field fence.
Crandall – who had a career-high 14 strikeouts in the opener – relieved
Lindsey Stoeckel (8-2) with one out in the fifth inning and went the rest of the way for OC, recording three more strikeouts and not allowing a hit for her second save of the season.
Crandall, a sophomore right-hander from Artesia, N.M., had eight strikeouts through three innings in the opener, in which the Eagles took a 1-0 lead on a third-inning solo home run to left field by Johnson.
But in the fourth, Crandall (10-1) hit two batters and walked another before Kinsley Hebler hit a two-run single to left field to put TAMUC ahead. The Lions made it 3-1 in the fifth on a solo home run by LeBlanc.
TAMUC starter Emily Otto (8-3) struck out eight in six innings before giving way to LeBlanc in the circle. OC rallied in the seventh, with Denny reaching second base when TAMUC centerfielder Uxua Modrego dropped a fly ball and reaching third on a passed ball.
Brie Dunckel and Johnson walked to load the bases with one out, but LeBlanc struck out
Katelyn Dunckel and retired
Kaitlyn Dennis on a foul popup to end the game and pick up her fourth save.
OC will be home this week, hosting Midwestern State (Texas) for a doubleheader on Friday and Tarleton State for another doubleheader on Sunday.