TYLER, Texas (May 4, 2022) – The last time Oklahoma Christian faced Lubbock Christian (Texas) during the softball postseason, the Eagles were in the midst of perhaps the most memorable run in program history, one in which they won the Heartland Conference tournament title en route to a berth in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional title game.
Sixth-seeded OC no doubt would like to start a similar run on Friday, when they will face the third-seeded Chaparrals in an 11 a.m. Lone Star Conference Championship tournament quarterfinal at Texas-Tyler's Suddenlink Field.
A win by OC (38-12) against LCU (37-9) would propel the Eagles into a 4 p.m. semifinal game against either No. 2 seed Texas A&M-Kingsville, No. 7 seed St. Mary's (Texas) or No. 10 seed St. Edward's (Texas). The championship game of the single-elimination, 10-team tournament (which will begin Thursday) will be on Saturday at 2 p.m.
The LSC tournament is undoubtedly the most competitive in Division II. The top six seeds in the field are ranked in the top 20 of this week's Division II coaches' poll and the next two seeds spent time this season in the top 25. It's so deep the defending Division II champion, West Texas A&M, is the No. 8 seed.
The winner will receive an automatic bid into the eight-team Division II South Central Regional tournament field, but it looks likely six other LSC teams will join the winner in the NCAA postseason when the field is announced on Monday.
Texas-Tyler (40-4) won the LSC regular-season title and earned the right to host the tournament. The next five teams in the standings – TAMUK, LCU, Angelo State (Texas), Texas A&M-Commerce and OC – all finished within a game of each other.
In 2019, OC was the No. 2 seed in the Heartland tournament in San Antonio and twice beat Lubbock Christian, the last time in the title game. Those were two wins in what became a seven-game winning streak for OC against the LCU, which the Chaparrals didn't end until this season, when they twice rallied from seventh-inning deficits to win 4-3 and 8-7 in Oklahoma City on March 4.
Both teams have improved since then. OC soon went on a school-record 22-game winning streak and was tied for the league lead entering the final two weeks of the regular season. Lubbock Christian had an 18-game winning streak of its own.
The OC-LCU matchup appears to be one of equals. The Chaparrals rank third in the LSC in team hitting (.343) and fourth in team ERA (2.50). OC is fifth and third, respectively, in those categories. The top two hitters in the LSC will be in the game –
Aaliyah Brown (.457) for the Eagles, Angela Donaldson (.442) for the Chaparrals.
OC is the only team in the tournament with three pitchers with double-digit wins –
Kali Crandall (15),
Grace Anderson (13) and
Lindsey Stoeckel (10). LCU has two of the league's top pitchers in Taylor Franco (19-4, 2.02 ERA) and Maxine Valdez (13-3, 2.13 ERA). Franco has four no-hitters this season, while Valdez has one. Anderson, only a freshman, already has pitched a perfect game for OC.
And, of course, the personal ties between the programs are many. Lubbock Christian's coach, Daren Hays, is the uncle of current OC assistant coach
Hunter Hays and sophomore infielder
Hampton Hays and the brother of former OC head coach Shanon Hays.
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