OKLAHOMA CITY -- The No. 9-ranked Oklahoma City University Stars rallied from three runs down to win the opener 8-5 and then coasted to an 8-1 win in the second game to sweep a doubleheader from the Mid-America Christian University Lady Evangels today (Apr. 12) at Jack Allen Field.
The Lady Evangels still remain in fourth-place in the Sooner Athletic Conference with an 11-9 league record, just percentage points in front of Texas Wesleyan University.
MACU committed a combined eight errors in the two games, starting with three miscues in the opener that led to five unearned runs against starter Amber Tinney.
The errors began immediately when lead-off hitter Kyndra Holasek bunted and reached third on an error in the first and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jocelin Diaz.
The Lady Evangels tied the score on an RBI groundout by Jackie Hilterbran in the bottom of the inning and grabbed the lead on a solo homer by Natalie Bissell and a two-run blast from Katie Gracey in the bottom of the fourth that made it 4-1.
In the third, another error proved large when OCU scored a run on a single by Cheyanne Terry that was followed by a miscue that kept the inning going and led to two more tallies for the Stars and tied the score 4-4.
OCU then took the lead on an RBI single by Holasek before Hilterbran hit another RBI groundout that plated Taryn Callendar, who just slid under the tag at home to score and make it 5-5.
Emily Krienke led off the sixth with a triple for OCU and with two out, scored the go-ahead run on a double by Holasek.
The Stars then capitalized on another error in the seventh that led to two more runs for a three-run lead they wouldn't relinquish.
Hilterbran and Gracey each drove in two runs in the opener for the Lady Evangels, while Bissell went 2-of-3 with an RBI.
Krienke had three hits in four at-bats for the Stars.
Tinney allowed three earned runs in seven innings of work with six strikeouts and no walks.
The Stars' Danielle Fox picked up the win by giving up five runs and also striking out six over seven innings.
Holasek again got things going for the Stars in the first inning of the nightcap with a lead-off single and advanced to third on another error. She then scored the first run on a successful squeeze bunt by Diaz.
Two more errors directly led to two more runs in the second for the Stars that made it a three-run game.
Shelbi Legg kept things going for the Stars with an RBI single in the third and Diaz singled home two more runs in the fourth as the Stars pulled out to a 6-0 lead.
Krienke then homered in the fifth and an RBI groundout by Holasek put OCU in front 8-0.
The Lady Evangels got on the board in the bottom of the fifth when Tiffany Holt singled with two out and scored on a single by Taylor Green.
Green and Holt each had two hits for the Lady Evangels in the second game.
Kelcie Wolf started the nightcap for MACU and went 3 1/3 innings and allowed four earned runs. Ashley Sanford blanked the Stars over the final 2 2/3 frames on only one hit with one strikeout.
Jamie Rateliff was solid on the hill for OCU, going six innings and giving up only one run on five hits with a pair of strikeouts.
The Lady Evangels will remain at home for a non-conference twinbill with Ecclesia College (Ark.) Tuesday afternoon (Apr. 15) at 1 p.m.
