Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
BENTONVILLE, Ark.- In what was probably the toughest day so far for the Ouachita Lady Tigers (6-8) at the 7-State Invitational, they faced off with the University of Central Missouri and No. 18 Emporia State. The Lady Tigers had chances in both games, but fell to UCM by a score of 12-2 and Emporia by a final of 7-2.
 
The first game of the afternoon was against Central Missouri, who snapped the Lady Tigers' three-game win streak in a 12-2 final.
 
The Jennies took an early lead, scoring a run in the top of the first inning on an RBI single from Jill Lucas. Just an inning later though, the Lady Tigers answered with two runs and took the lead, when Jocelyn Jones recorded a 2 RBI single.
 
Unfortunately for Ouachita, they weren't able to score again, and it was a very opposite situation for the Jennies, as they posted seven runs in the fourth, a run in the fifth and three runs in the seventh inning en route to the victory.
 
Abbi Frakes struggled in the game, throwing 3.2 innings and giving up seven runs. She fell to 3-6 on the year. UCM's Jakki Prater recorded the victory, putting in 5.1 innings of work and holding Ouachita to just four hits and no runs, while notching four strikeouts.
 
Later in the afternoon, the Lady Tigers matched up with Emporia State University, who entered the 7-State Invitational ranked No. 18 in the country. The Lady Tigers never led in the game, as Emporia took an early lead and never looked back en route to a 7-2 win.
 
Emporia used a two run homer in the first inning to claim an early lead, which they would expand upon in the fourth inning when they used another home run to jump out to a 3-0 lead.
 
Ouachita was able to come back in the bottom of the fourth and notch a pair of runs though, as Olivia Guin recorded a two RBI single that scored Megan McLaughlin and Kailey Willingham, cutting the Hornets lead to just one.
 
Emporia ran away with the game due to three runs in the sixth and another in the seventh though, sealing off a 7-2 win.
 
Ouachita's Amber Oxford fell to 3-2 on the year in the game, throwing three innings and giving up seven hits and three runs.
 
Emporia's Karley Schmelzer took the win and improved to 2-0 on the year with a three inning performance in which she recorded four strikeouts and didn't allow a hit or walk.
 
The Lady Tigers will finish off their tour of the 7-State Invitational on Sunday, when they take on Missouri Western at 9 a.m., followed by a bout with Missouri Southern at 11 a.m.
 
-Josh Fink, Sports Information Director