ALVA, Okla. - The Northwestern Oklahoma State softball team hosted the second day of the four-game slate against the Oklahoma Baptist Lady Bison. OBU took both games on Thursday, but the Lady Rangers split games on day two. OBU took game one, 16-8 with Northwestern taking the next, 6-3.
GAME 1
Madison Garza began game three in the series in the circle where she would go just 2.2 innings and was the losing pitcher in the contest, surrendering eight runs.
Just one Northwestern hitter had more than one hit in game one as
Morgan Kirk went 2-for-3, including a solo shot to left.
Oklahoma Baptist started the scoring early in the first inning with an RBI double, but Garza settled down and was able to get two straight strikeouts to end the threat.
Northwestern had a big answer in the bottom half of the inning where they unloaded on the OBU starter, Peterson for five runs, knocking her out in the process. The runs were scored on a stolen base by
Madi Parrott, an error by the left fielder scored two, while the final two runs were on a home run blast by
Macy Madewell.
After a scoreless second inning, the tables quickly turned in favor of the Lady Bison, scoring seven total runs on four hits and a grand slam, to bring the total to 8-5. The big inning knocked Garza out of the game, bringing in
Jalena Arthur to finish off the inning.
Northwestern was kept off the board again in the third, and Oklahoma Baptist capitalized on it once again, plating eight runs to take a commanding 11-run lead at 16-5.
The Lady Rangers showed some grit in the bottom of four as Parrott and Kirk hit back-to-back homers for three runs, making it an eight-run deficit.
In the next half inning the Lady Rangers would bring out their fourth pitcher, Karly Murry, following the eight-run fourth.
Even though Murry shut down the OBU offense, the Lady Rangers were unable to get anything going in the fifth and unable to avoid the mercy rule, falling 16-8.
GAME 2
Oklahoma Baptist started off the first, facing Lady Ranger pitcher Karly Murry, where they were led off by a doubly by Manning, but her teammates were unable to bring her around as they would come up empty in the half inning.
Northwestern followed it up with a leadoff double of their own by Parrott and was brought around by Kirk on a laced single through the left side, bringing the score to 1-0, which would be all the home team could do in the frame.
Murry was great through her first two innings, but the Lady Bison caught up to her in the third as Manning blasted her 10th homer of the season, tying it up at one apiece.
Not to be outdone though, the hosts earned three runs of their own, two of which came off the bat of
Jordan Sutton, bringing around
Madison McGraw on the blast.
OBU got one of the runs back in the top of four on a solo shot by Aspen Grimes, bringing the lead to two for the home team, but Northwestern had different ideas in their half of the fourth, scoring two more on a ripped double to left field by Sutton once again.
For the third consecutive inning, the visitors scored a run, cutting the lead to three.
Following three consecutive innings of Lady Bison scoring a run, the junior pitcher, Murry settled in and finished it off, shutting the visitors down in the last two innings, to win the game 6-3.
