CONROE, Texas (Feb. 6, 2022) –
Kali Crandall's clutch pitching kept Oklahoma Christian afloat twice on Sunday until the Eagles' bats caught up, and as a result, No. 15-ranked OC swept a pair of tight softball games in the Arkansas Tech Winter Invitational.
Crandall struck out 10 batters and took a perfect game into the sixth inning as the Eagles edged Colorado School of Mines 3-1, and she threw 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to pick up a second win as OC rallied from a 2-0 deficit for a walkoff 3-2 win over No. 25-ranked Central Missouri on Scrap Yard Sports' Field No. 4.
Aaliyah Brown delivered the winning hit for OC.
OC (3-1) will wrap up its five-game slate in the competitive NCAA Division II festival on Monday, facing in-state rival Southeastern Oklahoma State for the first time in four years.
"That (win over Central Missouri) was a big win," OC coach
Shalee Rodriguez said. "I don't think our girls realized they were a top-25 (team). It was a big win. And Mines was scrappy. They made things happen. These were two good wins.
"I didn't want Kali to throw that many innings today, but we couldn't hit and get runs across to be able to take Kali out."
Crandall (2-1) has had a hand in all three of the Eagles' wins thus far, earning a save as OC beat No. 2-ranked Augustana (S.D.) in the season opener on Saturday. She started the game against Colorado Mines (0-4) and quickly began dealing, retiring the first 15 batters she faced. The only problem for OC is that Sadriena Rodriguez, the Orediggers' starter, also was blanking the Eagles, not allowing a baserunner past second base during the first five innings.
OC broke through in the top of the sixth against Rodriguez (0-1).
Kylie Janzen walked and
Whitney Walde laid down a sacrifice bunt and reached base when Rodriguez's throw pulled the first baseman off the bag. With two outs and two runners on,
Lindsey Stoeckel broke the scoreless tie with a sharp single to right field to bring home Walde, and
Kelsey Gammage's infield single scored pinch-runner
Rian Gamble.
Suddenly with the lead, Crandall walked Kailey Robb to open the sixth inning and the next batter, pinch-hitter Hannah Roberts, doubled Robb home to put the Orediggers ahead. A third runner reached base on a fielder's choice before Crandall settled down to retire the top three batters in Mines' batting order and maintain a 2-1 lead.
Leadoff batter
Hannah Pate singled and scored on a triple to right field by Walde in the top of the seventh, giving OC an insurance run. Kayleigh Krueger singled to lead off the bottom of the seventh for the Orediggers, but Crandall retired the next three batters to finish the game.
Central Missouri (0-2) took a 1-0 lead against OC starter
Grace Anderson in the fourth inning, with Makenzie McAtee delivering the RBI single to score Ashlyn Cook. A two-base error followed by a double by Cook in the fifth put the Jennies ahead 2-0 before Crandall came into strike out MaKenzie Cooper to end the threat. Central Missouri didn't have another baserunner the rest of the game.
The Jennies' starter, Sadie Parks, hit
Tristyn Hamilton with a pitch to start the bottom of the fifth. Hamilton stole second base and scored on a single to right-center by Pate. After Pate stole second base, Janzen singled to right but Pate was thrown out trying to score.
Walde made it three straight singles for the Eagles. Brown's grounder back to Parks (0-1) proved disastrous for the Jennies, as she first bobbled the ball, allowing Brown to reach, then threw it over the first baseman's head, allowing Janzen to score the tying run.
Janzen opened the bottom of the seventh with a triple to left field. One out later, Brown singled up the middle to score Janzen and end the game.
"We'd been waiting on those big hits,"
Shalee Rodriguez said. "We just talked about making adjustments sooner, which we still didn't really do until the end of the game. We talked about finding your pitch and attacking that pitch. Yesterday, we didn't do that."
