EDMOND, Okla. - Oklahoma Christian and Lubbock Christian split the doubleheader earlier this season on LCU's home field, with OC dropping game one, 12-4, before taking the second contest, 8-4.
Thursday, May 1, the third installment of the season's head-to-head ensues, with the winner this time around earning a berth in the Lone Star Conference Championship semifinals as the four-seed Eagles and the five-seed Lady Chaparrals meet in Canyon, Texas, for a 5 p.m. scheduled first pitch.
EAGLE OUTLOOK (36-18, 29-15 LSC)
Oklahoma Christian makes its fifth consecutive trip to the LSC Softball Tournament off its eighth straight 30-win season, marking the longest such streak in the NCAA Division II era of any LSC team. The Eagles' 29 conference wins matches its most such wins since joining the LSC in 2020. The last time OC reached 29 league wins, it finished as the 2023 Tournament Runner-Up.
The Eagles are 4-4 all-time in the LSC conference tournament, having claimed at least one win in four of its five trips to the conference postseason. Of those four wins includes a victory over Lubbock Christian in the first round of the 2022 LSC Softball Tournament. Oklahoma Christian outlasted then-No. 13 LCU in 13 innings, 10-9, as the teams combined for 37 hits.
Oklahoma Christian brings one of the league's most prolific 1-2 punches into this postseason in starting pitchers
Jill Dickson (176) and
Grace Anderson (167). The maroon-and-gray are the only team in the conference with two pitchers among the top-5 in total strikeouts. Dickson comes into Thursday's contest with 487 career strikeouts, which is third in program history, while Anderson is fifth with 422.
Leading the offense for the Eagles is true freshman catcher
Marti Yaerger, who is leading the team in batting average (.378), hits (65) and RBI (32). Yaerger's 65 hits are the most in a single-season for an OC player since 2015 (Kendra Pierce, 70). As a team, Oklahoma Christian is hitting .308 for its highest team-batting average since 2022 (.317).
In the season's first two meetings,
Kiley Brewster recorded four total hits, including a 3-for-3 game-one, for two total RBI and two runs scored. In OC's victory over the Lady Chaparrals, the maroon-and-gray out-hit LCU, 9-5, as Anderson claimed the complete-game win in the circle with seven strikeouts compared to just two walks.
SCOUTING LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN (35-19, 26-18 LSC)
Lubbock Christian joins Oklahoma Christian in making its fifth consecutive trip to the LSC Softball Tournament, coming into this year's tournament winning 11 of its 12, including a 4-1 victory over then-No. 1 West Texas A&M. In their previous four trips, the Lady Chaparrals are 1-4, with their lone win coming in last year's first-round upset of three-seed Angelo State, 1-0.
Lubbock Christian is third in the LSC in team-batting average (.322) and fifth in team-ERA (3.57), with OC operating as the fourth-ranked pitching staff (3.18). Infielder's Kendra Levesque (.398) and Baylea Myers (.383) lead the LCU bats while starting pitcher Teoni Lamb has a staff-best 3.38 ERA. Emily Dix (7-5), who holds a 4.88 ERA for third on the team, got the win over Oklahoma Christian earlier this season.
