SEARCY, Ark. – The Northwestern Oklahoma State University Rangers took on fellow Great American Conference team in Harding University Sunday afternoon in Searcy, Arkansas.
The Rangers struggled to string hits together in the first game. The Black-and-Red had only five hits in the first game but came back in the second as they earned more than double that with 12.
Freshman
Kalie Johnson continued to stand out as she totaled four hits on the day out of seven attempts. She led off both games with a hit in the lead-off spot, the second game with a double, and earned one run.
Morgan La Neve also stood out with two of the five hits in the first game, going 4-for-7 on the day as well, earning two RBIs and a double.
Ashlie Green and
Jada Overby both stepped up in the second game going 2-for-3 with Overby earning an RBI as well. Five other Rangers earned a hit on the day.
Game 1
The Rangers had a hard time at the plate in the first game only earning five hits off the Bisons pitching staff in seven innings played. The Rangers would earn most of their hits in the first couple innings with a lead-off single by Johnson.
Alexus Bailey reached on a fielder's choice as Johnson got thrown out at second base. Bailey would show off her speed as she stole second base and got herself into scoring position. La Neve earned the only RBI of the game as she singled down the right field line allowing Bailey to cross the plate giving them a 1-0 lead.
Harding scored their first run in their half of the first to answer the Rangers. A sacrifice fly would score to tie the game at 1-1.
HU's offensive rampage continued into the bottom of the second inning. Harding was able to earn five hits, one of them being a homerun, to give them a lead of 5-1.
The next few innings were a defensive battle between both teams as they fought to prevent the other from scoring.
The stalemate ended in the bottom of the sixth inning as the Bisons continued with their offense as they scored three more runs on four hits to extend their lead to the final score of 8-1. The Rangers were unable to score any runs in the top of the seventh and took the loss.
Game 2
Northwestern started the second game off with a bang as Johnson recorded her second lead-off hit of the day with a double to right center. She was closely followed by an RBI double from La Neve to score Johnson as she gave the Rangers their first run and a lead of 1-0.
A lone single in the top of the second inning from
Ashlie Green would be all that the Rangers could conjure in the top of the second.
Allison Wells pitched herself out of a jam in the bottom of the second inning as the Bisons had runners in scoring position. She ended the inning with an exclamation point as she struck out the last batter of the inning giving her team a point to rally around.
The Ranger's followed suit with back-to-back singles from
Abby Detar and Johnson who then advanced on a wild pitch. Overby stepped up with an RBI single to score Detar and gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead in the top of the third.
The Bisons decided to answer back in the bottom of the third inning as they scored two runs on two hits to tie the game up 2-2.
Green would send her second lead-off single of the game through the left-side, but the Rangers were unable to get anymore runners on base. The Bisons continued their scoring rally into the bottom of the fourth inning with an RBI triple to give them the lead with a 3-2 score.
The Black-and-Red continue to fight back as the Rangers had three singles for a two-out rally to load the bases but were unable to score any runs with the threat.
The Bisons bats came alive in the bottom of the fifth inning as they earned four runs on four hits. A double and a three-run triple helped Harding pull away as they hit well against the Ranger pitching staff. They extended their lead to 7-2.
Another Bisons run was added in the bottom of the sixth inning to give them the final score of 8-2. The Rangers could not score anymore runs and took the second loss of the day the Harding.
Northwestern will continue their series against Harding University tomorrow with the first pitch of the doubleheader to start at 12 p.m.
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