Oklahoma City, Okla. - Oklahoma Christian (31-20, 26-15) hosted Western New Mexico to open the conference series on Friday afternoon with a doubleheader.
Game 1
Grace Anderson started in the circle for the Eagles, pitching a stellar four innings, striking out eight batters and only allowing two hits.
With Anderson's lock-down pitching, the Eagles offense would look to get the bats going and make quick work of game one. After not scoring in the first inning, the Eagles would go on to score in the last four innings to get the walk-off, run-rule victory.
Whitney Walde started the Eagles offense with a double to center field and showed off her speed by stealing third off a muffed catch by the catcher. Aaliyah Brown brought Walde across home plate with a double to right field in the next at-bat. Kristen Whitehouse continued the streak of doubles with a shot to left center to score Brown. Kiley Janzen came up to score one more for the Eagles in the inning but got tagged out, trying to stretch a double to a triple.
The offense kept the momentum with another run in the bottom of the third, as Kiley Brewster brought Brooklin Bain across home after showing off her speed on the bases.
OC could not be stopped, putting up three more runs off hits from all over the Eagles lineup. Janzen started the Eagles off by drawing a walk, followed by a single to right field from Tristyn Hamilton. Both were brought home with a hard-hit double off the wall from Bain. Kiley Brewster drove in the last run of the inning with a hard-hit ball to deep right center.
After Anderson's great four-inning outing, Haylee Monden entered for one inning of work, striking out two in the five batters faced.
The Eagles only needed one run to get the walk-off victory. This reality looked good after a triple down the left field line from Whitney Walde, but Aaliyah Brown would shut the door on the game with a 2-run home run blast over the left field wall.
Game 2
The hot bats from game one carried over into game two, partnered with the Eagles running the bases well, stealing six bases over the five-inning matchup.
The Eagles once again were held scoreless in the first inning, but would soon catch fire with a triple from Kadence Brewster. With some smart baserunning, Brewster scored off an infield single from Jill Dickson with the third baseman not making the throw in time. With a few mishandles from the Mustangs and a single from Tristyn Hamilton, the Eagles had the bases loaded with just one out, and Brooklin Bain skied a ball out to left field to bring in a run with a sacrifice fly.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Eagles added two more runs to the score with a double from Dickson, driving in with a Kristen Whitehouse triple, followed by a double from Kylie Janzen.
The Eagles would put up the last four runs needed to be in run-rule territory and they would answer the call.
Bain would get on to lead off with a walk and two stolen bases, followed by another walk for Whitney Walde and stealing second, to put two Eagles in scoring positions. Aaliyah Brown ripped a ball in the infield, the Mustangs would attempt to catch Bain at home but would fail to allow the run to score and Brown to get on first. Kadence Brewster stepped up to blast the ball into center field to score another run. Presley Main, who came in to pinch run for Brown stole home off a mishandling from the Mustang catcher. With a single to center field, Kristen Whitehouse brought home the eighth run for the Eagles and put them just three outs away from another run-rule victory.
This offensive on-slaught was coupled with another amazing pitching presence from Jill Dickson, going four innings, allowing only one hit, and striking out eight. Brooklin Bain would come in to pitch for the final three outs of the day, striking out two in the four batters she faced.
Up Next
The Eagles and the Mustangs will try to play their series and regular-season finale before the spring weather of Oklahoma hits, with an adjusted start time of 9 a.m.
The Eagles will honor their seven seniors before the game.
