CONROE, Texas (Feb. 7, 2022) – As Oklahoma Christian's top pinch-hitter last softball season, Aaliyah Brown developed a reputation for producing timely hits. She's now in the Eagles' starting lineup and is continuing to come up clutch.

Brown's two-run homer to dead center field in the third inning proved to be the difference on Monday as the Eagles downed in-state rival Southeastern Oklahoma State 3-1 in their final game in the Arkansas Tech Winter Invitational at Scrap Yard Sports.

No. 15-ranked OC finished 4-1 in the three-day event, downing No. 2 Augustana (S.D.) and No. 25 Central Missouri along the way. Brown ended the latter game with a walkoff single that gave OC a 3-2 decision, then drove in all three of the Eagles' runs against Southeastern (1-4).

"We played some good teams and faced some great competition," OC coach Shalee Rodriguez said. "We're good with going 4-1. Now we get to go home."

In addition to Brown's homer, the Eagles picked up strong pitching from Lindsey Stoeckel and Grace Anderson, who combined to limit the Savage Storm to only five hits. Stoeckel (1-0) allowed one run in five-plus innings before Anderson, a freshman, entered with no outs and a runner on in the sixth and finished the game to pick up her first collegiate save.

"It was good to get Lindsey in the circle and let her go a lot of innings," Rodriguez said. "That's what we wanted to do today. We executed better at the plate. We left too many runners on, which we can't do in too many games, or it will come back to bite us. We're getting hits, but just not scoring runs. We've got to do a better job at stringing them together and getting runners home when they're in scoring position."

In the first meeting between the teams since 2018, OC's Rian Gamble tripled with one out in the first inning off Southeastern starter Amberlyn Walsworth (0-2) and scored on a single to left-center by Brown. Kylie Janzen led off the third inning with a single and scored ahead of Brown on the home run, the first longball of 2022 for the Eagles.

Southeastern put two runners on base in the first inning and loaded the bases in the third, but Stoeckel wriggled out of both jams without allowing a run. The Savage Storm broke through in the sixth when Stoeckel walked Kady Fryrear, the leadoff batter, before giving way to Anderson. Two batters later, Gracie Ore tripled home Kamarie Wallace to pull Southeastern within 3-1, but Anderson struck out Kyla Monahwee, then retired Bailey Beard on a groundout to first base.

Kamryn Rackley tripled with one out in the seventh for Southeastern, but Anderson retired the next two batters on an infield popup and a groundout to end the game.

OC's next 14 games will be at home, starting with four on the opening weekend of the Edmond Regional Festival. The Eagles will host Fort Hays State (Kan.) on Friday, Rogers State on Saturday and Missouri Southern and Southern Nazarene on Sunday.

OC extended its all-time series lead against Southeastern to 10-8.