Austin, Texas - No. 18 Oklahoma Christian fell victim to St. Edward's in both games of Friday's doubleheader after the Hilltoppers used walk-off singles in both contests to claim the wins.
Despite the slow offensive day for OC,
Kate Paulsen (4-for-8) continued her career season with two hits in each of the day's outings, including two of OC's three hits in game two, both of which were doubles, for her seventh and eighth multi-hit game of the season.
The Andover, Kan., native now has 28 hits through 26 games and is second on the team with a .394 batting average as well as tied for second with six doubles. Paulsen is pacing the Eagles with a .620 slugging percentage.
No. 18 Oklahoma Christian (17-9, 10-8 LSC) will continue south a bit to San Antonio, Texas, to take on St. Mary's Sunday, Mar. 16. First pitch of the twin bill is set for 12 p.m.
Game One: St. Edward's 5, No. 18 Oklahoma Christian 4 (9 inn.)
After a scoreless one and a half innings, St. Edward's took advantage of two OC errors in the bottom of the second to put the first runs on the board, 2-0.
After the Eagles' initial bid to cut into the Hilltoppers' lead was nullified with the maroon-and-gray's third-base runner being ruled to have left early on
Victoria Brazil's sacrifice fly attempt, Paulsen came to the plate and left with the score tied, 2-2, with her two-RBI single in the top of the third.
Both pitchers kept the other team's offense at bay until the sixth inning when OC looked to score the deciding run off a Yaerger RBI-single. That one-run lead was held into the bottom of the seventh frame, when with Oklahoma Christian one out away from victory, SEU used two singles and a walk to stay alive.
In the top of the eighth, OC again seemed to make the deciding play with
Kadence Brewster's second home run of the season in the top of the eighth, but again, with the Eagles one out away from victory, the Hilltoppers managed to plate a single run in the home-half of the eighth to send the game to a ninth inning.
The two-out magic by St. Edward's in the previous innings paid off in the ninth. After OC was left scoreless, SEU followed a double with a walk-off single to win game one, 5-4.
Game Two: St. Edward's 1, No. 18 Oklahoma Christian 1
Starting pitcher
Jill Dickson was working a no-hitter through the fifth inning. Meanwhile, OC was able to manage three hits during that time, but was unable to bring that base-runner across home plate as play remained, 0-0.
With two innings remaining for the Hilltoppers, they claimed their first hit of game two in the sixth frame before seeing their first two-hit frame in the seventh to break the scoreless tie. As had been the theme of the afternoon, St. Edward's scored the game-winning run on two outs.
