LAWTON, Okla. (April 30, 2022) – No. 15-ranked Oklahoma Christian closed a difficult final stretch of the softball season on Saturday by generating some momentum for the upcoming postseason.
Aaliyah Brown's two-run home run in the fifth inning proved key as OC beat Cameron 6-3 at McMahon Field in the opening game of a doubleheader, then
Kylie Janzen's three-run first-inning homer provided all the offense the Eagles needed en route to a 3-1 win in the second game to complete the sweep in the regular-season finale for both teams.
OC (38-12, 22-8 Lone Star Conference) had entered Saturday on a four-game losing streak, having dropped consecutive doubleheaders at No. 1 Texas-Tyler and No. 20 Texas A&M-Commerce. The Eagles will learn later Saturday who their quarterfinal opponent will be in the LSC postseason tournament that will begin this coming Friday in Tyler, Texas. Cameron (25-23, 13-17) will be the No. 9 seed in the LSC tournament.
The opener was tied 2-2 in the fifth inning when
Whitney Walde drew a walk from Cameron pitcher Breley Webb (11-8) before Brown launched a shot over the right-field wall to give OC a 4-2 lead. In the sixth,
Tristyn Hamilton's double down the right-field line scored
Rian Gamble and
Brooklin Bain followed with a booming triple to left-center field to bring Hamilton home, making it 6-2.
An error and a wild pitch led to a run by the Aggies in the bottom of the seventh, but OC pitcher
Grace Anderson (13-4) finished off a complete game by coaxing a double-play ground ball from Kylie French to end the game. Anderson allowed only six hits.
The second game ended up being a duel between OC pitcher
Kali Crandall (15-7) and Cameron's Josie Swofford (6-7), who allowed only three and two hits, respectively.
All of the scoring came in the first inning – in fact, both of OC's hits came during that frame and so did two of Cameron's.
Bain led off with a single to right field and
Chloe Woodward followed with a walk. With one out and two runners on, Brown hit a line drive that appeared destined to drop in for a hit before second baseman Khmari Edwards leapt to catch it. But on the next pitch, Janzen homered to right field. OC had only two more baserunners the rest of the game.
Crandall surrendered a solo home run to Edwards to start the bottom of the first and later gave up a single in the inning, but after that, she allowed only one more hit. The Aggies loaded the bases in the seventh inning on an error, a hit batsman and a walk, but Swofford flew out to end the game. Cameron stranded 10 baserunners.
The doubleheader sweep evened OC's all-time record against Cameron – the only other Oklahoma team in the LSC – at 12-12. The Eagles and Aggies first played in 1995, OC's first season of softball.
GAME 1 STATISTICS
GAME 2 STATISTICS
