TYLER, Texas (May 7, 2022) – After a Lone Star Conference Championship tournament win for the ages against No. 13-ranked Lubbock Christian (Texas) – 10-9 in a 13-inning thriller – No. 19 Oklahoma Christian had a quick turnaround before facing No. 2 Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday.
The Eagles, perhaps understandably, ran out of emotional fuel at the end of a long day and succumbed to TAMUK 10-3 in the semifinals at Texas-Tyler's Suddenlink Field, ending their tournament run but not their softball season. OC (39-13) will find out Monday morning where it will be headed in next week's NCAA Division II South Central Regional tournament, as will LCU (37-10).
The OC-LCU quarterfinal game will be one folks on both sides no doubt will talk about for years to come – a contest full of highs and lows, records galore, great performances on both sides, rallies and clutch hitting.
Hannah Pate's 13th-inning single proved to be the most clutch for either team as it drove in
Tristyn Hamilton with the decisive run.
The game matched the longest ever played by an OC team since the program began in 1995. (Coincidentally, the other 13-inning game also came in the postseason, a 4-3 loss to Rogers State in the title game of the 2018 Heartland Conference tournament.) It also was the longest game in LSC tournament history. Five pitchers combined to throw 413 pitches – 209 by LCU, 204 by OC.
Whitney Walde had four singles for the Eagles, matching the second-highest single-game total in program history. OC's 18 hits were the second-highest single-game total in a postseason contest in program history (23 vs. Hillsdale Baptist on May 8, 2014). Lubbock Christian, meanwhile, stranded a program-record 18 runners and had more hits (19) than in any other game the Chaparrals ever had lost. Angela Donaldson's five hits matched another LCU record.
OC never trailed in the wild contest as it extended its postseason winning streak in games against the Chaparrals to four. The Eagles scored four runs in the top of the first inning, two on a single by
Kylie Janzen, and added four more in the fourth inning, with Hamilton,
Brooklin Bain and Walde each delivering a run-scoring hit. Janzen doubled and scored on
Chloe Woodward's fifth inning single to extend OC's lead to 9-3.
But the Chaparrals rallied. Three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning made it 9-6. In the bottom of the seventh, OC still led 9-6 and recorded two quick outs, but four singles later, Lubbock Christian tied the game on a run-scoring hit by Kasey Flores.
From there, pitchers
Lindsey Stoeckel (11-1) and Maxine Valdez (13-4) took over. Valdez pitched 10 innings after LCU starter Taylor Franco – the LSC pitcher of the year – was injured and struck out nine batters. Stoeckel, the Eagles' third pitcher of the game (after
Grace Anderson and
Kali Crandall) kept working her way out of trouble after entering in the seventh inning. LCU stranded baserunners in scoring position in the eighth, 10th and 13th innings.
After the fifth inning, OC didn't advance a runner past second base until the 13th. With one out, Hamilton singled to left-center field and advanced to second on a groundout by Bain. Pate singled to left field (her third single of the game) to score Hamilton. The Eagles eventually stranded two baserunners in the inning, but the one-run lead proved to be enough.
Stoeckel surrendered a leadoff single to Caroline Chilton to start the bottom of the 13th and Chilton went to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Savannah Wysocki, but Tiarra Delrosario grounded out to third base and Brooke Makemson struck out to end the game, which lasted three hours and 26 minutes.
A little more than two hours later –
after a brief celebration – OC was back to face TAMUK (45-8). The Javelinas built a 4-0 lead against Anderson (13-5), a freshman making her second start of the day.
Aaliyah Brown's three-run home run in the top of the fourth pulled OC within 4-3, but the Eagles managed only two hits (both singles) after that.
TAMUK sealed the win with a six-run sixth-inning outburst, highlighted by a grand slam by Aaliyah Ortiz.
TAMUK starter Carissa de los Santos (8-1) pitched 6 1/3 innings and allowed only five hits to pick up the win. The Javelinas advanced to play Texas A&M-Commerce in Sunday's tournament title game.
STATISTICS (LCU)
STATISTICS (TAMUK)
