OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian University softball team faced their toughest test to this point in the 2018 season on Tuesday afternoon, welcoming in the NAIA #25 University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma Drovers to Jack Allen Field for their first Sooner Athletic Conference home games of the season. The Drovers were coming off a double header split with Oklahoma City University in which the Drovers ended a string of 66 consecutive victories against SAC teams for the Stars, so the Lady Evangels knew they had their work cut out for them.
MACU (12-4, 2-2 SAC) had a 4-0 lead early in the second game of the double header, but USAO (15-1, 3-1 SAC) rallied to win the game 5-4 in extra innings. The Drovers took game one 3-0 as well.
In game one, USAO struck first in the opening inning on a one-out walk followed by an RBI double from Chloe Clifton, but Larie Amos was able to limit the damage to just a single run. MACU put two runners on in the bottom of the second inning, with Amos drawing a walk and Hannah Salmon reaching on an error, but they were unable to get a runner to third base, and the game remained 1-0 in USAO's favor.
Keely Kingsley hit an inside the park homer down the left field line to lead off the third which doubled the but again, Amos limited the Drovers to a single run. MACU got their first runner to third base in the bottom of the third inning when Hanna Harris singled to short to break up the no-hit bid and move Caitlin Butler to third with two outs. Larie Amos followed with a ground out to the pitcher Emily Cerny, and USAO kept their 2-0 lead. Randa Hatter homered in the top of the sixth to cap the scoring, and Cerny retired six of the final eight MACU hitters as USAO took the win, 3-0.
Cerny (9-0) tossed the complete game two-hit shutout, she walked four and struck out 10 MACU batters. Amos (3-1) threw six innings and gave up three earned runs on seven hits with one walk and a pair of strikeouts. Harris and Amos each singled to notch MACU's two hits.
Harris got MACU on the board first in the second game with a 2-run homer three batters into the game, and MACU added two more runs in the bottom of the third on an RBI double from Salmon, who later scored on an error to put MACU up 4-0.
The Drovers lifted starting pitcher Jordan Detherage in the bottom of the third and returned Cerny to the circle, and she was able to put the brakes on the Lady Evangels' offense and that gave the Drovers a chance to come back.
USAO got on the board in the top of the fourth, swiping a run on a first-and-third play, and though the Evangels got an out, the run helped breathe life into the Drovers. USAO took advantage of three MACU errors in the top of the fifth to plate two unearned runs, and in the sixth frame, Hatter belted a long solo homer to tie the score.
MACU lifted starting pitcher Regan Martin for the seventh inning, turning the ball over to senior Courtney Anderson. Anderson worked a scoreless seventh, and the game went to extra innings tied at 4-4. In the eighth, the Drovers scored an unearned run on a throwing error to take a 5-4 lead, and the Lady Evangels were unable to score in the bottom of the frame as the Drovers held on to win.
Cerny (10-0) threw five and two-third innings of hitless, shutout relief to earn the win; she walked one and fanned five. Anderson (3-2) allowed only one unearned run in two innings of relief, she did not allow a hit, and she walked one. Harris, Salmon, and Ribbin Anderson had the only three hits of the game for MACU.
The road does not get any easier for MACU on Thursday, when the Evangels will hit the road to take on seventh-ranked Oklahoma City (12-4, 5-1 SAC) for a twi-night twin bill. First pitch of game one is slated for 5 p.m.
