OKLAHOMA CITY (April 13, 2022) – Coming off the program's first no-hitter in more than three years, Oklahoma Christian's pitching staff continued its sizzling streak with a pair of one-hitters on Wednesday against Northwestern Oklahoma State.
No. 16-ranked OC combined that quality in the circle with a potent offense led by
Tristyn Hamilton's seven RBIs, and the results were predictable – the Eagles rolled to a pair of run-rule wins by 9-1 and 13-0 counts over nonconference foe Northwestern Oklahoma State on a sunny afternoon at Tom Heath Field.
OC (34-8) extended its school-record winning streak to 20 games, which remains the second-longest active streak in NCAA Division II softball, trailing only Colorado Christian's current 23-game run. The Eagles have won six straight games and 14 of their last 15 in their all-time series against Northwestern (13-25-1).
In a Sunday doubleheader sweep of Western New Mexico, OC senior
Lindsey Stoeckel and freshman
Grace Anderson combined to retire 29 straight batters – 14 in a row by Stoeckel to close the first game, and then all 15 in a perfect game by Anderson in the second game.
Stoeckel started the first game against Northwestern and extended that run to 36 straight batters retired by OC pitching before the Rangers' only hit of the day, a third-inning single to left field by Jaci Oakley. But the next batter, Genesis Rodriguez, lined out to Stoeckel (9-0) to start an inning-ending double play and Stoeckel ended up facing the minimum 12 batters in her four innings of work.
The Rangers picked up an unearned run in the top of the sixth thanks to a pair of OC errors, pulling them within 4-1, but the Eagles answered with five runs in the bottom of the inning. Hamilton hit a run-scoring single up the middle,
Aaliyah Brown drew a bases-loaded walk,
Abi LaValley drove in two more runs with a single to right-center field and
Kylie Janzen ended the game with a RBI single to right that brought home pinch-runner
Hampton Hays.
Northwestern starter Hannah Howell (9-9) took the pitching loss.
The second game was more of the same. OC scored four runs in the second inning off Northwestern starter Victoria Vasquez (2-2), three on a bases-loaded triple to right-center by Hamilton. It was one of six extra-base hits – three triples, three doubles – recorded by the Eagles during the game. Brown hit two of those doubles, in the first and third innings.
Janzen tripled and scored during a three-run third inning and did the same in the fourth, when the Eagles sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six runs. Hamilton had run-scoring hits in both innings – a single in the third and a two-run double in the fourth. Freshman
Kate Paulsen recorded her first collegiate hit during the fourth-inning outburst, a single to right field.
About the only drama was whether OC ace
Kali Crandall (14-6) might record what would be her first career no-hitter. Crandall carried her bid into the fifth inning before the Rangers' leadoff batter, pinch-hitter
Jillian Bouse – a former OC player – hit a clean single to right field.
Brooklin Bain entered the circle after that and retired three straight Northwestern batters – two via strikeout – to end the game.
OC will have the Easter weekend open before finishing its nonconference schedule next Tuesday at home against Arkansas Tech. The Eagles will close the season with three huge Lone Star Conference doubleheaders, all on the road – on April 22 at No. 1 Texas-Tyler, on April 24 at No. 19 Texas A&M-Commerce and on April 30 at Cameron.
GAME 1 STATISTICS
GAME 2 STATISTICS
