Houston, Texas - Oklahoma Christian softball opened their season today at the DII Spring Invitational in Houston, with a matchup against No. 13 Augustana (S.D.), and Regis (Co.)
 
Game 1: No. 13 Augustana - OC 7, Augustana 2
 
Oklahoma Christian featured two starting pitchers making their debut in Eagles' uniforms. The first to take the circle was Payton Foster, a transfer from UT Tyler, and she did so with two strikeouts in her opening inning.
 
In the bottom of the second, the Eagles had three consecutive RBI singles from Rebeca Farjardo, Chloe Woodward, and Tristyn Hamilton, to take a 3-0 advantage over the Vikings.
 
The Vikings responded in the fourth inning scoring their first and second runs of the game with an RBI-triple, and an RBI-single with no outs. But Foster locked back in, getting Augstana to roll into a double-play and strike out to get out of the inning.
 
The Eagles put the game away in the bottom of the 5th, scoring on an error, two more RBI singles, one from Boo Robinson, and another from Woodward, collecting her team-high second RBI of the day. And Farjado stole home on a perfectly executed double-steal attempt to give OC the 7-2 lead that went on to be the final score.
 
Payton Foster had a great debut with 4 strikeouts in 7 innings and allowing just four hits leading to only two runs.
 
Game 2: Regis - OC 2, Regis 0
 
The second game was the debut in the circle for Jill Dickson, a freshman from Edmond, Oklahoma, and Dickson spun a gem. Dickson opened her career with two K's, and a clean opening inning.
 
Oklahoma Christian took their lead in the bottom of the 3rd, with an RBI ground-out from Whitney Walde, scoring Hannah Pate who led off the inning with a single. And an RBI double from returning All-American, Aaliyah Brown, scoring Central Arkansas transfer, Kristen Whitehouse.
 
Dickson rolled through the lineup, with at least two Ks in every inning up until the fourth, when Walde end the defensive half of the inning catching a Rangers runner stealing.
 
Dickson's debut featured a complete game, 1-hitter, with 9 strikeouts, and only walked two batters.
 
THOUGHTS FROM COACH RODRIGUEZ
 
Q: In your own words, recap the today's games:
 
A: We played very well all around today. It's always good to take care of business on the first day, but we have a lot more business to take care of this weekend.
 
Q: In the first game, the bottom half of the lineup came through big time, how did they adjust and come through?
 
A: We have a good lineup top to bottom, so when the bottom of our lineup steps we can make a lot of things happen and really put pressure on the defense.
 
Q: Two great performances from your pitchers making their debuts - what'd you like about Payton and Jill's performances?
 
A: It was great to see Payton and Jill settle in and do a great job for complete games today. They both stepped up and carried their load of innings with a huge piece of our pitching staff missing this weekend. It was good to get them going and get all the nerves out. They still have a lot of innings to play this weekend!
 
NEXT UP
 
The Eagles will get right back to it with another doubleheader tomorrow, starting with No. 8 Central Oklahoma, at 11 AM, in a game that will not have live stats.
 
After the matchup with the Bronchos, Oklahoma Christian will take on Arkansas Tech at 3:30 PM in Houston.
 
Schedules, box scores, and live stats can be found at the tournament central page