OKLAHOMA CITY – Tuesday afternoon was a nearly perfect day for a softball double header, and the Mid-America Christian University Lady Evangels took full advantage. Hosting their nearby rivals from Southwestern Christian University, MACU's offense erupted, plating 21 runs in 10 innings of work.
MACU (25-9, 10-6 SAC) rapped out 16 hits in an 11-3 win over SCU (10-26, 3-15 SAC) in game one, and in game two, the Lady Evangels worked nine walks and took advantage of seven SCU errors to take a 10-1 win. Both games ended after five innings of play.
The Lady Evangels struck first in game one, plating two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Ribbin Anderson and Kortney Brown each singled, stole a base, and scored a run in the frame, with Hannah Salmon earning her 30th RBI of the season in the frame.
SCU rallied in the top of the second frame, when they pushed across three runs, but a defensive play turned the momentum in the inning. With three runs already across, runners at the corners, and only one out in the inning, Ashley Easlon broke for second on a stolen base attempt, but Hanna Harris fired a strike to second and Jessica Johnson slapped the tag on Easlon for the second out. The play squelched the rally, as Regan Martin settled down and escaped the jam on a bunt force out at first.
That marked the last time in the game that Martin was in any type of trouble. The freshman hurler from Sheridan, Arkansas retired the final 10 hitters she faced, and only once in that span did the ball leave the infield. She struck out four of her seven batters in the game from the third inning on, and the MACU offense took full control of the game.
Alanna Leisy doubled and scored to tie the game in the second frame, and in the third, MACU surged in front. Liesy singled with two out in the third inning, Courtney Hickman followed with an RBI-triple, and Jessica Johnson singled home Hickman before she was thrown out at second trying to stretch the hit into a double.
MACU put together four hits in the bottom of the fourth, and those hits resulted in three runs. Jessica Holt, Ribbin Anderson, and Kortney Brown notched three straight hits to start the inning, Anderson scored on an error, and Larie Amos had a bunt hit that scored Brown as MACU pushed their lead to 8-3. In the fifth, MACU scored three more times, with Anderson and Brown each driving in runs on singles.
Martin (9-2) allowed three earned runs on three hits and two walks in five innings of work. Leighanne Griffith (4-14) took the loss, as she gave up 11 runs, nine of them earned, on 16 hits and two strikeouts in four and two-thirds innings.
The bottom four in MACU's order shouldered the load offensively in the game. Leisy, Hickman, Johnson, and Holt combined to go 9-for-11 in the game with a double, a triple, a hit by pitch, six runs scored and three RBIs. Anderson and Kortney Brown were both 3-for-4 in the game, Anderson scored three times and had an RBI, and Brown scored twice and drove in two.
SCU drew first blood in game two in the top of the second frame. Griffith doubled with one away in the inning, she moved to third on a bloop single from Alex Raschtschenia, and she scored on a ground out from Morgan Campbell. Again, though, the momentum turned on a play at second base, this time it was Salmon firing a pick-off throw to second that Amber O'Bryant grabbed and tagged out Raschtschenia to end the threat.
MACU immediately answered in the bottom of the second frame, doing all the damage with two outs in the frame. Leisy reached on a fielder's choice with two outs, and the throw to first got away as the Eagles tried to turn the inning-ending double play, allowing Leisy to advance to second. O'Bryant singled Leisy home, and she moved to second on the throw to the plate which allowed the Lady Evangels to start the merry go 'round. The throw to the plate in an attempt to retire Leisy bounced away, allowing O'Bryant to move to third, and the next three MACU batters all drew bases on balls. With two more errors and a wild pitch mixed in, MACU was off and running to a five-run frame as MACU claimed a 5-1 lead.
Harris and Hickman drew successive walks to start the third inning, and Harris was lifted for Alexis Franks who pinch ran. After a throwing error on a throw back to the pitcher allowed the runners to move to second and third, Leisy singled home both runners to push MACU's lead to 7-1. Salmon had the Lady Evangels' only hit of the fourth frame, but MACU took advantage of four walks, a hit batsman, and a trio of errors in the frame to plate three more runs, and after Taylor Bankston worked a scoreless fifth, the Lady Evangels claimed the win 10-1 to complete the sweep.
Courtney Anderson (5-4) threw four innings to earn the win, and she gave up one earned runs on three hits, one walk, and one strikeout. Makayla Buck (0-5) allowed 10 runs – eight earned – on only five hits and seven walks in three innings as she was hit with the loss. Bankston allowed only one baserunner in a scoreless fifth frame.
All five MACU hits in the game were singles. Larissa Tate, Salmon, Hickman, Leisy, and O'Bryant notched the base knocks, and seven Lady Evangel hitters reached on free passes. Ribbin Anderson and Caitlin Butler each walked twice, and Harris, Franks, Hickman, O'Bryant, and Brianna Glass all walked once in the game.
MACU will be back in action on Thursday afternoon, when they complete their season series with the NAIA #6 Oklahoma City University Stars (34-5, 19-1 SAC). The twin bill is slated to start at 2 p.m.
