ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita softball team picked up a pair of wins in a doubleheader sweep of the Central Baptist College Mustangs Tuesday afternoon at Langston Field.
Game One: Ouachita 8, CBC 3
The first game of the afternoon saw Ouachita get things going in the second inning on a two RBI single from
Jordyn Merrett that scored
Katelyn Provence and
Remington Adams. A solo home run from
Erin Williams in the bottom of the third added to the Tiger's lead and made the score 3-0. After a scoreless fourth inning, Central Baptist tied the game back up after a three-run fifth inning and the Mustangs followed it up by holding Ouachita scoreless in the bottom half of the inning to keep things tied.
But the Tiger offense came alive in the sixth, exploding for five runs that started with a two-RBI double from Karley Borrow that scored
Riley Gillis and
Hope Johnson. Kennedy Wilke came home next thanks to an RBI fielder's choice hit by
Olivia See. Burrow scored on a wild pitch and
Lauren Lester hit a double that scored See to put the Tigers up 8-3 heading into the final inning. Ouachita forced a three-up-three-down top of the seventh to secure the 8-3 win in game one.
Hannah Hunter pitched a complete game in the circle, with a career-high seven strikeouts in the win.
Provence tallied two hits in the win for the only Tiger with multiple hits. Merrett and Burrow each had two RBI to lead the team.
Game Two: Ouachita 3, CBC 2 (8 Innings)
It was Central Baptist that got on the board first in the second game, scoring one run in the second inning. It was a slow start for the Ouachita offense as they struggled to get runners into scoring position for the first part of the game. The Mustangs added a second run in the top of the sixth to extend their lead to 2-0.
The offense woke back up in the sixth as
Lauren Lester led off the inning with a single. Williams followed with her second home run of the afternoon to tie the game up 2-2. Both teams were held scoreless in the seventh to force Ouachita's third extra innings game 10 days. Unlike the previous two extras games, this one used the tiebreaker rule of placing a runner on second to start the inning. CBC pushed their runner to third, but the Tigers forced the final two outs to keep the game tied. Ouachita moved its extra runner to third on a sacrifice bunt and an RBI fielder's choice from
Remington Adams scored
Emily Reed to walk off the Mustangs by the final score of 3-2 to secure the doubleheader sweep.
Tuesday Melton pitched the full eight innings in the circle for the Tigers, striking out four in the win.
Seven different Tigers tallied hits in the 3-2 victory, with Williams leading with two RBI.
The Tigers will look to keep up the success this weekend when they host the Savage Storm of Southeastern Oklahoma State University in a three-game Great American Conference series starting with a single game on Friday, March 22 at 4 p.m. in Arkadelphia.
