OKLAHOMA CITY - A day after taking on the NAIA #2 Oklahoma City Start, the Mid-America Christian University softball team came home for a pair of non-conference tilts against Crowley's Ridge College (Ark.), and from the start, it was a day dominated by MACU pitching.
MACU (9-5) got a pair of complete game shutouts on the day, one from Regan Martin and one from McKenzie Smith, as the Evangels swept away Crowley's Ridge (5-12) by scores of 4-0 and 1-0.
Ribbin Anderson opened the first game with a single, and she scored on a single from Amber O'Bryant after the Pioneers' left fielder bobbled the ball. O'Bryant, who had moved up to second base on the error, then stole third and Hannah Salmon singled her home, and Salmon scampered home on a single from Alanna Leisy to cap the 3-run frame.
That proved to be all Martin needed. The sophomore hurler from Sheridan, Arkansas allowed two hits in the first inning, and none after that. Martin (5-1) struck out five and walked two in the shutout win, and in the bottom of the fifth frame, Larie Amos lofted a sacrifice fly to drive in Hanna Harris to cap the scoring as MACU took the win 4-0.
Sammie Henry (1-6) took the loss for CRC, giving up four earned runs on 10 hits in five innings of work.
The Evangels racked up 12 hits in the game, led by Harris who was 3-for-3 with a double and a run scored. Leisy singled and doubled, and Anderson and O'Bryant each notched a pair of singles in the barrage. Leisy, Amos, and Salmon had RBIs; and Anderson, O'Bryant, Salmon, and Harris each scored in the game.
Game two was similar, but with muck fewer base runners.
At one point early in the game, McKenzie Smith retired 11-of-12 batters from Crowley's Ridge, and both teams had only one runner reach second base in the first four innings. CRC got a runner to third with one out in the top of the fifth, but Smith got a strikeout and a fly out to end the threat, and the game proceeded to the seventh as a scoreless tie.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Harris singled to left and was lifted for pinch runner Caitlin Butler. Two pitches later, Salmon looped a single to shallow right field, and Butler raced to third. The throw skipped through the grasp of the CRC third baseman, and Butler scurried home with the game's only run as MACU took the win 1-0.
Smith (3-1) scattered four hits and a walk in the complete game shutout, she walked one, and she struck out three. Summer Maxwell (2-5) took the loss, giving up just the one unearned run on three hits, and Maxwell struck out one.
Harris had two of the three hits for MACU in the game, including the only extra base hit of the game.
MACU will be off during the week next week for spring break, and they will return to action on Friday, March 22 in Waxahachie, Texas. There, the Evangels will take on the Southwestern Assemblies of God University Lady Lions (11-9, 6-0 SAC) for a double header at 2 p.m.
