CHICKASHA, Okla. - As the season winds down for the Mid-America Christian University softball team, the Evangels faced the unenviable task of hitting the road to take on the NAIA #1 University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma Drovers on Tuesday afternoon. The Drovers entered play on a 50-game winning streak, and though MACU battled in both games, the Evangels were unable to end that run.
USAO (45-0, 32-0 SAC) held the MACU (22-14, 15-12 SAC) bats down in game one, and in game two, the Drovers offense took control of the game, as MACU dropped the games by scores of 5-0 and 13-4.
USAO jumped out early in game one on a 3-run home run from Destinee Lookout in the bottom of the first inning, but Caitlin Butler and Taylor Bankston settled down after that. The two MACU pitchers allowed only two unearned runs in the final five innings of offense for USAO, but on the other side, MACU could not get the offense going against Emily Cerny.
Cerny (18-0) allowed only a double to Alanna Leisy in the top of the fourth in the hit column, and though she issued five walks, she struck out 12 in the complete game shutout win. Butler (1-4) gave up four runs, three earned, on 10 hits in three and one-third innings, and she did not walk or strikeout a batter. Bankston threw the final two and two-thirds innings, and she gave up one unearned run on two hits, one walk, and one strikeout.
The Drovers struck first again in game two, plating three unearned runs in game two, but MACU answered in the top of the third to trim the deficit to 3-1. Ribbin Dorado singled with one out, and she then stole second base before coming around to score on a double from Brook Hendrickson.
USAO added five runs in the bottom of the fifthe frame on a quartet of hits for the Drovers, but again, the Drovers were unable to keep MACU off the board in the next inning. Hendrickson and Leisy singled to start the inning and Alexis Franks doubled the two of them home to cut the deficit to 8-3. A passed ball moved Franks to third, and she scored on a groundout from Hannah Salmon to get the Evangels within four.
USAO, though, put the game away in the bottom of the sixth, as the Drovers scored five more runs, with the last two coming on a game-ending home run from Cassidy Bennett as they took the win 13-4.
Lyndie Ervin (10-0) picked up the win for USAO, allowing one earned run on three hits in three innings with a pair of strikeouts. Adrienne Phillips (1-1) took the loss for MACU as she allowed five runs - only one of which was earned - in four and one-third innings. Phillips gave up six hits and struck out one.
Hendrickson was 2-for-3 with a double in the game with a run and an RBI, and Franks doubled and drove in two in her only at bat.
MACU will return home for Senior Day festivities on Saturday. The Evangels will take on the Texas Wesleyan University Rams (17-24, 13-12 SAC). First pitch time is still to be announced.
