ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita Baptist University softball team split its GAC double header with the East Central Tigers, dropping game one 6-2, then bouncing back with a 11-3, run rule victory in game two.
Game One: East Central 6, Ouachita 2
The first game of the series began as a low-scoring pitching duel. East Central got on the board first in the top of the first with a single run to take a 1-0 lead.
Hope Waid led off with a double for the Purple Tigers, but that was it for Ouachita in the first. Both teams traded scoreless innings until the bottom of the fourth when Ouachita made it on the board thanks to some smart baserunning.
Madison Shoebottom singled to lead off the fourth.
Maggi Huddleston laid down a sacrifice bunt to try to move Shoebottom to second, but Shoebottom took advantage of ECU's defense slacking and made her way to third base on the bunt.
Lauren Lester then scored Shoebottom off a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1.
The tie was short lived for Ouachita, as East Central plated two runs in the fifth, one in the sixth, and two more in the seventh to take a 6-1 lead. Ouachita added one more run on a solo home run from
Katelyn Provence, the first of her collegiate career, to make it a four-run game. But this was it for the Tigers and East Central won 6-2.
- Hope Waid went 2-for-3 with a double at the plate.
- Lauren Lester went 1-for-2 with an RBI, a double and a sacrifice fly.
- Starter Tuesday Melton went 4.2 innings, striking out two and allowing three runs, earning her the loss.
- Katelyn Provence recorded her first collegiate home run.
Game Two: Ouachita 11, East Central 3 (Five innings)
The second game of the day started with starter
Maggi Huddleston and the Ouachita defense working around two baserunners to hold ECU scoreless in the top of the first. Then, the Purple Tigers struck first as
Erin Williams hit a two-run homer that also scored
Hope Waid. This was Williams' fifth home run of the season, and the Tigers went up 2-0 in the first inning. Ouachita added another run in the second on a
Katelyn Provence RBI single that scored
Kalia Kekahuna-Fernandez to make it 3-0 Ouachita. ECU scored two in the third inning to make it a one-run game.
Then, Ouachita opened things up in the fourth, scoring six runs on five hits. The scoring started at
Lauren Lester homered to left on the first pitch of the inning to make it 4-2 Ouachita. Then, Kekahuna-Fernandez and Waid scored on a deep fly ball from
Erin Williams that was dropped by the centerfielder to make the score 6-2.
Madyson Shoebottom then proceeded to triple down the right field to score Williams to put Ouachita up by five. Shoebottom made her way across the plate on an error off a
Lacy Ornelas hit ball to put the Purple Tigers up 8-2. The sixth and final run of the fourth inning came on
Lauren Lester's second sacrifice fly of the day to score
Callie Jourdan to make it 9-2 Ouachita.
East Central added one run in the top of the fifth inning to make the score 9-3.
Hope Waid walked to lead off the bottom of the fifth, followed by two straight outs. Then,
Madyson Shoebottom called game, hitting one out of right center field to enforce the eight-run sportsmanship rule on the two run homer to give Ouachita the 11-3 victory in five innings to even up the series 1-1.
The four home runs hit in today's games broke a 10-game home run-less streak for Ouachita.
The 11 runs scored in game two was the second most runs of the season for the Tigers in purple and the most since they scored 15 against Union on February 15.
Ouachita will go for a series win in the series-finale rubber match against ECU tomorrow, Saturday, March 18 at Sully Anderson Field.
