CLAREMORE, Oklahoma – The Ouachita softball team kept things close, but dropped its midweek doubleheader against No. 6 Rogers State University Tuesday afternoon on the road.
Game One: No. 6 Rogers State 2, Ouachita 1
Ouachita struck first in the first game of the afternoon.
Jordyn Merrett worked a leadoff walk to open the game. A groundout and a single pushed Merrett to third.
Remington Adams hit an RBI groundout to score Merrett, putting the Tigers up 1-0.
After going hitless in the first, Rogers State tied things up with a home run in the bottom of the second. The No. 6 Hillcats too the lead in the bottom of the third inning with a second solo homer. From there, the pitchers' duel was on, as both sides were held scoreless over the final four frames and Ouachita fell 2-1.
Merrett,
Emily Reed, and
Karley Burrow each recorded hits in the loss.
Catie Amador struck got the start and pitched 4.0 innings with two strikeouts but earned the loss.
Callie Kilburn pitched two innings in relief and gave up just two hits.
Game Two: No. 6 Rogers State 14, Ouachita 10
In what was a complete opposite to the first game of the day, the game-two shootout started with the Hillcats taking a 2-0 lead after the first inning. The Tigers got a run back in the second when Adams stole home, making the score 2-1. Rogers plated four runs in the bottom of the second inning to go up 6-1. Ouachita scratched another run across in the third on a sacrifice fly from Reed to score Merrett, making it a 6-2 game. No. 6 Rogers State added three runs in the third and four in the fourth to take a 13-2 lead heading into the fifth.
But the Ouachita offense woke up and put together a five-run fifth inning.
Baylee King got the scoring started with a two RBI double that scored Merrett and
Bella Roseberry. King was scored thanks to an RBI single from Reed. Reed came home after Adams hit an RBI triple to center field, and Adams was brought around thanks to
Kennedy Wilkie RBI single. Adding it all together make it a 13-7 ball game.
The Tigers forced Rogers State down in order in the bottom half of the inning and kept the scoring going in the top of the sixth. After a walk, a single, and a groundout to open the frame, Reed hit her fourth home run of the season, this one for three RBI to make the score 13-10. RSU added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. The Ouachita offense had run out of gas and the Tigers fell after the seventh inning 14-10.
Four Tigers recorded multiple hits in the slugfest, with Merrett leading with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate.
Reed racked up five RBI on two hits in the loss.
Burrow got the start but earned the loss.
Tuesday Melton struck out two in one inning of relief work.
The Tigers will look to bounce back this weekend when they host the Muleriders of Southern Arkansas University in a three-game conference series set to start Friday, March 7 at 4 p.m. at Langston Field.
