ALVA, Oklahoma – The Ouachita Baptist University softball team split the Saturday double header with the Rangers of Northwestern Oklahoma State University, dropping game one 4-1 and winning game two 7-4 on the road.
Game One: NWOSU 4, Ouachita 1
The first game of the season's last GAC series began with the Tigers jumping out to an early lead.
Hope Waid led off the game with a single to center field.
Heather Brown was then hit by a pitch to move Waid into scoring position with no outs. With one out,
Erin Williams singled to left center to bring Waid across to score and give the Tigers an early 1-0 lead over the Rangers.
This would be it for the Tigers offensively for game one as they would record just one more hit and two baserunners across the rest of the game. NWOSU scored one in the fourth inning and plated three in the fifth to win the first game of the series 4-1 over Ouachita. Neither team put up large numbers, as Ouachita recorded three hits to NWOSU's five, but the Rangers held on to take game one.
- Hope Waid went 1-for-3 with a run scored.
- Erin Williams went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
- Maggi Huddleston went 1-for-3 at the plate.
- Huddleston also entered the game to pitch in relief and struck out one while allowing no runs across 1.2 innings.
Game Two: Ouachita 7, NWOSU 4
The box score for game two looks almost opposite of the first, as the Tigers racked up a total of 14 hits across the seven inning game, scoring seven runs in the process. Again the Tigers jumped out to an early lead.
Hope Waid led the game off with a single for the second time that day.
Heather Brown followed with a single of her own. Not wanting to miss the party,
Erin Williams singled to second base to load the bases with no outs. A fielder's choice from
Callie Jourdan and an error by the catcher allowed Waid to cross home to get the Tigers on the board.
Lacy Ornelas then singled to score Brown to give the Tigers an early 2-0 lead.
The second inning saw the hits continue for the Tigers.
Kellen Church hit a one-out single to third. Waid recorded her second hit in as many at-bats next. A groundout from Brown advanced both runners into scoring position. Williams walked to load the bases with two outs.
Lauren Lester followed the walk with a two-out two-RBI single to left center to increase the Tiger lead to four runs.
The bats quieted down for the next two innings for the Tigers, as no runs scored for either team. But the fifth inning saw Ouachita's bats wake back up to score two more runs.
Callie Jourdan led the inning off with a double down the right field line. Jourdan advanced to third after a popup.
Shelby Smith singled to center field to score Jourdan and make it a 5-0 ballgame.
Kennedy Wilkie reached on a fielder's choice and was moved to second after Church walked. Waid then singled to left, which allowed
Emma McCorkle, the pinch runner for Wilkie, to score from second to put the Tigers up 6-0 after the top of the fifth.
The Rangers got a run back in the bottom of the fifth, making the score 6-1 in favor of the Tigers. NWOSU scored another three runs in the bottom of the sixth to cut Ouachita's lead to just two runs. The Tigers were able to push their lead back out to three runs as Smith scored on a Church RBI single. Ouachita did not allow the Rangers to get a hit in the bottom of the seventh and the Tigers took game two by a score of 7-4.
- Hope Waid went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI.
- Kellen Church went 2-for-3 with a run scored, an RBI and a walk.
- Shelby Smith went 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.
- Heather Brown went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
- Lauren Lester recorded two RBI while going 1-for-4 at the plate.
- Tuesday Melton earned the win, pitching 5.2 innings and striking out one to earn the win.
The Tigers will look to win the series and the final game of the 2023 season tomorrow in Alva with the first pitch set for noon.
