OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian University softball team entered the 2018 NCCAA Central Region Championship knowing that they were in position to earn a bid to the NCCAA Softball World Series if they could find a way to reach the region title game. They nearly pulled off a hard-fought victory in that title tilt, and now the Lady Evangels await the announcement of the NCCAA World Series field.
MACU (39-20) saw Regan Martin pick up her program record-tying fifth shutout of the season in their tournament opener as the Lady Evangels picked up a 2-0 win over Southwestern Assemblies of God University (30-27-1) in the tournament opener, and after a 45-minute delay to the start of the region championship game, the Lady Evangels took the region's top-seed, the Central Baptist College Mustangs (37-17) to 10 innings in a game which was suspended and completed on Thursday afternoon before falling 9-8.
Martin allowed a one out single in the second inning, but she pitched around that hit easily, and in the third, MACU got on the board. Jessica Holt led off the inning with a single, and she moved to third on a sacrifice and an error for Kortney Brown. Brown drove in Holt on a fielder's choice, and the Lady Evangels took the 1-0 lead.
That proved to be enough for Martin (14-7). The freshman retired 15 of the final 17 batters she faced, tossing a three-hitter to earn the victory. She did not walk a batter, and she notched three strikeouts in earning the shutout.
MACU gave Martin an insurance run in the top of the sixth, as Alanna Leisy doubled to open the inning. With two outs, Courtney Hickman singled her home to double MACU's lead, and that provided the final margin of 2-0 MACU.
Rachel Ray (12-12) took the loss for SAGU, despite only allowing two earned runs on eight hits. She also did not walk a batter, and she struck out five.
The win advanced MACU into the winner's bracket, where they awaited the winner of a game between SAGU and Central Baptist. There was some confusion and discussion as to the tournament schedule following the Mustang's 9-1 win over the Lady Lions, and as a result, after consultation with the NCCAA office, the decision was made to proceed with a one-game, winner-take-all Championship tilt.
The game got under way 47 minutes after it was originally scheduled, and CBC wasted no time in ripping back-to-back doubles to take a 1-0 lead. Martin entered to face the third hitter of the game in relief of Caitlin Butler, and Martin shut down the Mustangs into the fifth frame.
Meanwhile, the MACU bats awakened and the game took on a back-and-forth tone. In the bottom of the third, a walk to Jessica Johnson got things started for MACU, and a sacrifice bunt from Jessica Holt moved her to second. Ribbin Anderson followed with a single and a stolen base to put runners at second and third, and with two away, a wild pitch scored Johnson, and Hannah Salmon singled home Anderson to give MACU a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the fourth, Stella Millican drew a bases loaded walk to add a third run to MACU's tally, and Anderson reached on a fielder's choice when CBC's Allison seats threw home wildly in an unsuccessful attempt to retire Amber O'Bryant as MACU took a 4-1 lead to the fifth.
CBC played long ball in the top of the fifth, homering three times to score a total of five runs as the Mustangs surged back in front, but MACU did not go away. Leisy reached on a walk with one out in the bottom of the fifth frame, and she came around to score on Seats' second error of the game to pull MACU within one at 6-5. Seats made up for the error in the top of the sixth with a one out two-run single to push the Mustangs lead to 8-5, but Courtney Anderson induced a pair of groundouts to escape the inning without further damage, and MACU continued to rally.
Larissa Tate reached on a leadoff walk in the bottom of the sixth, and Salmon lined a triple over the head of Alyssa Estrada to drive Tate in and trim the deficit to 8-6. Larie Amos followed with an RBI single to third that scored Salmon, and the Lady Evangels put runners at first and second with two outs in the inning. Johnson singled through the left side of the infield, and MACU tried to get the tying run home, but left fielder Brianna Nunn made a perfect throw home to retire pinch runner Alexis Franks to end the inning.
CBC threatened to add to their lead in the top of the seventh inning, but Amos was able to pitch around two hits and a walk, and the game headed to the bottom of the seventh with MACU still down 8-7. Pinch-hitter Kortney Brown led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, and she moved to third on a sacrifice and a ground out. Salmon drew a walk to put runners on the corners, and Amos followed with a single to tie the game at 8-8, and the gem went to extra innings.
The Mustangs went quietly in the top of the inning, and despite two singles in the bottom half, the Lady Evangels were unable to score. With daylight fading, the decision was made to suspend the game until the following day at 1 p.m.
CBC drew a pair of walks in the top of the ninth, and with the top of the lineup at the plate and two outs, MACU's Salmon took advantage of a mistake from Estrada, the leadoff hitter. With a count of 2-1, the slap-hitting Estrada strayed out of the front of the batter's box and into the path of Salmon's throw back to Amos in the circle. Salmon threw back toward the pitcher, hitting Estrada, who was called out on batter's interference to end the inning.
After MACU went in order in the bottom of the ninth, The Mustangs took the lead in the top of the 10th. Seats belted her third home run of the tournament – her 17th of the season – with one out in the top of the inning to give CBC a 9-8 lead. MACU got a walk and a single to put two on with nobody out in the bottom of the 10th, but a strikeout and two pop outs ended the game in a 9-8 CBC victory.
Rachel Gregory (5-3) threw a total of six innings in the game, earning the win. She allowed two earned runs on five hits, three walks, and four strikeouts in the game. Amos (9-4) threw four innings and allowed one earned run on four hits, three walks, and four strikeouts in the loss.
Salmon and Leisy each singled twice and drove in two, Leisy singled and doubled with two runs scored, and O'Bryant and Johnson each also had two singles in the game. Johnson also drew three walks in the ballgame.
CBC's win earned them the Central Region's automatic bid to the NCCAA World Series, and MACU is in position to receive an at-large berth as well. The participants, pools, and schedule will be announced by the NCCAA on Saturday evening following the conclusion of the final region championship.
