OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian University softball team closed their spring break week on Friday by stepping back into Sooner Athletic Conference play to host a weekend series with Central Christian College (Kan.). The Lady Evangels did not trail on the day, but the second game was in doubt until the last inning.
MACU (18-6, 4-4 SAC) used a pair of big innings, one late in each game, to take a pair of run-rule wins over Central Christian (6-22, 1-13 SAC). The Lady Evangels won game one 12-2 in five innings, and they took game two 12-4 in six frames. The Lady Evangels have now won six in a row.
MACU broke the ice in the bottom of the first inning in game one. Larie Amos belted a two-out RBI double down the left field line that scored Ribbin Anderson, and that was the first of three straight RBI hits. Hannah Salmon singled home Amos, and after Salmon stole second, Alanna Leisy singled her home to give MACU a 3-0 lead. Amos and Salmon each added RBI knocks in the second as MACU scored three more to take a 6-0 lead. Amos singled home Kortney Brown with two outs, and Salmon followed with a two RBI triple that plated Amos and Hanna Harris.
Central Christian plated a pair of unearned runs in the top of the third, and the score remained unchanged into the bottom of the fourth. In the last half of the fourth stanza, Amos sparked the Lady Evangels' offense with a two-out solo home run – her third of the season – and when the dust had settled on the frame, MACU had plated six runs to break the game open and take a 12-2 lead. The Tigers went in order in the top of the fifth, and MACU claimed the run-rule victory.
Regan Martin (5-1) allowed just the two unearned runs on four hits and two walks in the complete game victory, and she struck out four. Gianca Holmes (0-2) took the loss, allowing 12 runs – eight earned – on 14 hits and one walk in three and two-thirds innings.
Amos and Salmon were each 3-for-3 and finished just shy of the cycle. Amos singled, doubled, and homered with three runs scored and three RBIs; and Salmon singled, doubled, and tripled with two runs scored and three RBIs. Caitlin Butler added a 2-for-3 performance with a triple, a run, and two RBIs; Leisy singled twice with a run and two RBIs, and Brown had a pair of base hits and a run scored.
In game two, the first inning and a half went by scoreless, and the Lady Evangels took advantage of a break to open the scoring. Jessica Johnson reached on a dropped third strike when the Tigers' catcher Karina Flores left her throw down to first too low and it skipped by Breana Miller into right field. Two runs scored on the play, and Amber O'Bryant and Ribbin Anderson picked up RBI singles later in the frame as MACU opened a 4-0 lead.
Central Christian got on the board after a leadoff triple from Taylor Bourne in the third inning, but the Lady Evangels got that run back in the bottom of the fourth when O'Bryant scored on an error.
In the fifth inning, Flores made up for the miscue earlier in the game when she cleared the bases with a double to right field to pull Central Christian within one at 5-4, and that remained the score into the bottom of the sixth.
In the last half of the sixth stanza, MACU erupted for seven runs on six hits. Stella Millican singled, and Anderson reached first on a fielder's choice as pinch runner Shelby Hicks evaded the tag to put two on with nobody out. Jessica Holt sacrificed the two runners to second and third, and the next six MACU hitters reached, with an O'Bryant base hit driving in the game ending run as MACU won in six, 12-4.
Amos (6-1) allowed four runs, three earned, on seven hits, one walk, and she had three strikeouts. Kasi Kraus (3-9) was hit with the loss, as she yielded 11 runs on 13 hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
Salmon was 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored, and O'Bryant singled three times with two runs and three RBIs. Hanna Harris singled twice and drove in two, and Millican was 2-for-3 with a double.
The two teams will wrap up their four-game weekend set on Saturday with a double-header slated for Noon.
