OKLAHOMA CITY (May 13, 2021) – Playing in its first postseason game since the 2019 softball season – and its first game ever as a team ranked in the top five nationally – No. 4 Oklahoma Christian put together a workmanlike performance on Thursday night against St. Mary's (Texas).

The Eagles jumped on St. Mary's for two first-inning runs, extended their lead with opportune offense, then relied on solid relief pitching to close out a 4-2 win over the Rattlers in a Lone Star Conference Championship tournament quarterfinal at Tom Heath Field.

OC (37-6), the tournament's top seed and host, advanced to a 6:30 p.m. semifinal game on Friday against either No. 12-ranked West Texas A&M or a strong Texas A&M-Kingsville team that split a doubleheader at OC earlier this season. WT and TAMUK will play at 1:30 p.m. in a quarterfinal game of the single-elimination tournament.

The Eagles made their first NCAA Division II tournament appearance in 2019, winning the Heartland Conference tournament title and advancing to the title game of a South Central Region tournament, and seemed headed back to the NCAA tournament before the 2020 season ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. OC entered the LSC tournament as the No. 1 team in the NCAA's South Central Region rankings and hopes to be the top seed in the regional tournament when the field is announced Sunday night.

Playing on a picture-perfect May night before a crowd of about 250 fans that included stars of that 2019 team including Madison Hagood and Kaylie Upton, the Eagles started quickly against ninth-seeded St. Mary's (21-23), a team that dealt OC its final loss before the Eagles went on a school-record 16-game winning streak earlier this season. St. Mary's had won its first LSC tournament game on Thursday, beating eighth-seeded Cameron 6-1.

OC freshman Brooklin Bain led off against St. Mary's starter Julia Cruz (5-9) with a sharp single up the middle. A fielder's-choice grounder by Brie Dunckel wiped Bain off the basepaths, but freshmen Katelyn Dunckel and Kylie Janzen followed with walks to load the bases ahead of a sacrifice fly by freshman Whitney Walde that scored Brie Dunckel. Cruz's next pitch was wild, allowing Katelyn Dunckel to score.

Walde walked and scored on a perfectly executed delayed double steal with Daelyn Denny in the third inning to make it 3-0. Walde tripled and to right-center field and scored on a groundout by Brianna Robinson in the fourth inning, pushing the OC lead to 4-0.

OC sophomore right-hander Kali Crandall (24-2), who leads NCAA Division II in wins, struck out four batters and carried a shutout into the sixth inning before Abigale Carney's two-run home run over the left-field wall cut the Eagles' lead in half. Senior Bailey Turner came on and recorded her third save in as many games, allowing only one hit over 1 1/3 innings while striking out two batters.

It was the second time in four years that OC ended the Rattlers' season. The Eagles won an elimination game over St. Mary's in the Heartland Conference tournament on the Rattlers' field in San Antonio in 2018.