OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian softball team won its first Sooner Athletic Conference series of the season, taking 3-of-4 from Central Christian in a four-game series by sweeping the Lady Tigers, 9-6 and 6-4 on Saturday afternoon at Jack Allen Field.

GAME ONE

Central Christian (3-2, 1-2 SAC) gained the early momentum in the top of the first inning, scoring a pair of runs off a Nicole Herrera RBI double to right-center and a Haley Lewis RBI single to grab the 2-0 lead. The Lady Tigers threatened even more by loading the bases with two outs, but Evangels starter McKenzie Smith got Karina Flores to ground out to second to prevent any more damage.

Mid-America Christian (8-1, 2-1 SAC) immediately got the bats going in the bottom of the first as back-to-back singles by Jessica Holt and Amber O'Bryant put runners at first and second and Hannah Salmon brought both in with a scorching liner to the center fielder that was misplayed, allowing­­­­ O'Bryant to come in along with Holt to tie the game.

Two batters later, Faith Hollingsworth drove in Salmon with a single down the left field line to give the Evangels their first lead of the contest at 3-2.

The Lady Tigers were able to get the advantage back in the second. After loading the bases, Central Christian scored one on a Lewis fielder's choice force out at third, followed by an Altavia Hall RBI single up the middle to make it a 4-3 CCC edge.

In the bottom of the third, the Evangels once again fought back to take the lead. After back-to-back walks by O'Bryant and Salmon, the two baserunners came around to score when Olivia Roberts notched a hard-hit groundball that was misplayed by both the shortstop and the centerfielder, reclaiming a 5-4 edge.

The Evangels added another one when Roberts was able to score on an infield single by Hollingworth, extending the MACU lead to 6-4.

In the fifth, MACU added three crucial insurance runs. Roberts and Osborn tallied back-to-back singles to start off the inning while pinch runners Mikaylee Allen and Shayla Morris advanced to scoring position off a wild pitch. Hollingsworth drove in her third run of the game with a double down the left field line while another wild pitch in the ensuing at-bat brought Morris home to increase the edge to 8-4.

The Evangels scored their final run on Kylie Stubbs' sacrifice fly to right, scoring MACU pinch runner Cailey Parcells from third to set the score to 9-4.

Central Christian scored two more runs in the top of the sixth off Evangels reliever Kassie Martin making her first appearance of the season, but MACU closer Adrienne Phillips shut down the Lady Tigers with a 1-2-3 seventh to secure the win.

Mid-America Christian scored its nine runs off eight hits and committed four errors while Central Christian finished with six runs on 10 hits and also committed four miscues.

Smith improved to 4-0 in the circle after going five innings, allowing four earned runs on seven hits and five walks, while Phillips notched her second save with one strikeout in her inning of work.

Hollingsworth led the MACU bats, slashing 3-for-3 with three RBIs off a double. O'Bryant and Salmon each scored a pair of runs while going 1-for-3.

GAME TWO

Mid-America Christian (9-1, 3-1 SAC) started off strong in the second game. After Holt led off with a single through the hole at short and advanced to third on a Stubbs SAC bunt, followed by a Salmon walk, the Evangels successfully pulled off a double steal as Salmon stole second while Holt reached home on the throw.

Three batters later, MACU made it 2-0 when Hollingsworth slapped a single to right-center to score Roberts from second.

The Evangels added one more in the bottom of the second when Roberts blasted a hard-hit single off the right-center field fence to score Stubbs from second to stretch the MACU advantage to three.

MACU starter Regan Martin cruised through the first three innings, facing the minimum, but ran into major trouble in the fourth when the first two batters reached via an error and a single while CCC's Nicole Herrera slapped an infield single to second to score Ashton Nelson, cutting the Evangels edge to 3-1.

However, Martin was able to work her way out of the jam by not allowing a single hit out of the infield the remainder of the frame as the Evangels limited the Lady Tigers to just the one unearned run.

Mid-America Christian quickly got the run back when Caitlin Butler smacked a triple to the right field wall and Ribbin Dorado drove her in with a SAC fly to right, bringing the lead back to 4-1.

In the top of the fifth, the Lady Tigers were quick to cut the deficit down to two when Flores crushed a leadoff homer over the left field fence off of Phillips in relief and then scored another when Osborn committed a throwing error trying to get a runner out advancing to third on a passed ball, bringing the score 4-3.

The Evangels once again had a counter to the rally, getting the two runs back in the bottom half of the fifth on an RBI single by Butler followed by a Dorado RBI single through the hole at short, extending MACU's edge back to 6-3.

Central Christian mounted a rally in the seventh when Flores reached on a leadoff double and scored two batters later off an error by Roberts at first. The Lady Tigers were eventually able to bring the tying runs to second and third with one out, but Phillips was able to buckle down, getting Haley Lewis to strikeout and inducing CCC's red-hot hitting Hall to ground into a 4-3 putout to end the game.

The Evangels scored their six runs on 11 hits with four errors while the Lady Tigers notched their four runs on seven hits.

Martin picked up her first win of the season after tossing four innings, allowing just one unearned run on three hits with three strikeouts. Phillips finished with her third save of the season, giving up three runs, one earned on four hits, walk and two strikeouts.

Roberts had one of her best games in an Evangels uniform, batting 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored while Butler finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and run as well.

Mid-America Christian will return to non-conference action next week as the Evangels will head to Winfield, Kan. for its first road games of the season. The Evangels will face Southwestern in a doubleheader rematch on Tuesday, Mar. 3 with the first game starting at 1 p.m.