OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Softball team closed out its series against Southwestern Christian in thrilling fashion on Sunday afternoon as Serena Rodriguez smacked the walk-off single up the middle in the bottom of the seventh to score Kiley Flores and seal a 2-1 victory at Allen Field to secure the series split after falling 8-0 in the first game of the day.
 
GAME ONE
SCORE

• Southwestern Christian 8, Mid-America Christian 0
  • Mid-America Christian (4-12, 2-5 SAC)
  • Southwestern Christian (10-3, 3-2 SAC)

PITCHING DECISIONS

• Win: Lainey King (4-0)
• Loss: Emmerson Dickinson (4-5)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Mia Macias – 2-2
• Heidi Noisey – 1-3, 2B
• Saina Willis – 1-2

SCORING SUMMARY

• TOP 1^st – SCU – Kylee Coy stole second; Hannah Keele stole home – SCU 1, MACU 0
• TOP 2^nd – SCU – Hannah Keele singled to center, RBI; Trinity Norwood scored – SCU 2, MACU 0
• TOP 2^nd – SCU – Kylee Coy reached on a fielding error by ss, RBI; Raynie Tom scored – SCU 3, MACU 0
• TOP 3^rd – SCU – Danielle Burleson grounded out to ss, RBI; Payton Leba scored – SCU 4, MACU 0
• TOP 4^th – SCU – Hannah Keele scored on a passed ball – SCU 5, MACU 0
• TOP 4^th – SCU – Kylee Coy scored on a wild pitch – SCU 6, MACU 0
• TOP 4^th – SCU – Hailey Kuhlman flied out to cf; Jessie Moralez scored on a throwing error by cf – SCU 7, MACU 0
• TOP 6^th – SCU – Hailey Kuhlman flied out to cf; Jessie Moralez scored on a throwing error by cf – SCU 7, MACU 0
• TOP 6^th – SCU – Trinity Norwood hit a sac bunt to p, RBI; Ebony Garza scored – SCU 8, MACU 0

GAME SUMMARY

• Southwestern Christian got the wheels in-motion right out of the gate as back-to-back singles by Hannah Keele and Kylee Coy put runners at the corners before they perfectly executed a double steal to score the first run of the game. However, MACU starting pitcher Emmerson Dickinson worked herself out of the jam by striking out three of the next four batters while allowing only an infield single during that stretch.
• Once again, the Eagles capitalized on a pair of early infield hits in the second and executing some strong baserunning to put runners at second and third with one out before Keele smacked an RBI single to center to plate one before the other came across on a fielding error at short to set the score to 3-0.
• Two more runners reached in the top of the third on Kylah Daniel's infield single and Trinity Norwood getting hit by a pitch. After a successful double steal put both in scoring position, Danielle Burleson hit an RBI groundout to short that Dickinson got a piece of before Jorjanna King rifled to first, making it a 4-0 contest.
• The only time MACU was able to get a runner in scoring position was when Heidi Noisey ripped a leadoff double to the right-center field gap and was moved over to third on Jorjanna King's sac bunt with one out, but the Evangels were unable to bring across the runner.
• The Eagles scored two more runs in the top of the fourth by taking advantage of a defensive miscue and a pair of pitches that got to the backstop, plating both Keele and Coy to make it a 6-0 game.
• SCU pushed across the game-deciding runs in the top of the sixth after loading the bases with no outs before an errant throw on Hailey Kuhlmann's shallow flyout to center allowed all runners to advance a base when the ball got away from the catcher before Norwood executed a safety squeeze to plate Ebony Garza, ultimately sealing the 8-0 result.

GAME NOTES

• Southwestern Christian scored its eight runs on 12 hits while the Evangels notched four hits and committed five errors.
• Mia Macias notched half of MACU's hits after slashing 2-for-2 with a pair of singles.
• Saina Willis came up with a hit to finish 1-for-2 on the game while Heidi Noisey notched the only extra-base hit with her double to go 1-of-3.
• Emmerson Dickinson and Nyssa Dunn split time in the circle with each pitcher seeing three innings of action.

GAME TWO
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 2, Southwestern Christian 1
  • Mid-America Christian (5-12, 3-5 SAC)
  • Southwestern Christian (10-4, 3-3 SAC)

PITCHING DECISIONS

• Win: Gia Reynosa (1-2)
• Loss: Macey Weger (3-3)

TOP PERFORMERS

• Serena Rodriguez – 3-4, RBI, R, SB
• Kiley Flores – 1-1, R
• Mia Macias – 1-3, 2B
• Gia Reynosa – W, CG, 1 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 6 SO

SCORING SUMMARY

• BTM 1^st – MACU – Heidi Noisey reached on fielding error by 3b, RBI; Serena Rodriguez scored – MACU 1, SCU 0
• TOP 3^rd – SCU – Trinity Norwood homered to center, RBI – MACU 1, SCU 1
• BTM 7^th – MACU – Serena Rodriguez singled up the middle, RBI; Kiley Flores scored – MACU 2, SCU 0

GAME SUMMARY

• Mid-America Christian threatened to put up a big inning right out of the gate as Serena Rodriguez hit a leadoff single to right and Mia Macias hammered an RBI double down the left field line to put a pair of runners in scoring position. Heidi Noisey then hit a grounder down the third base line that SCU third baseman Ebony Garcia mishandled, allowing the Evangels to score the go-ahead run.
• However, MACU was unable to bring in another as the Eagles retired three of the next four Evangels batters with only Kayten Herman reaching on a walk to keep it to a 1-0 game.
• The Eagles tied it up in the top of the third when Trinity Norwood mashed a leadoff home run over the center field wall for the only long ball in the series.
• Both teams struggled to put runners in scoring position over the next three innings before SCU put together a massive threat in the top of the sixth when Hannah Keele and Kylee Coy started off the frame with a single and a double to put runners at second and third with no outs. However, MACU's defense came up huge as Jessie Moralez was unable to execute a safety squeeze bunt that saw her get thrown out at first and then Keele caught trying to score on the throw back home, resulting in a double play. MACU starting pitcher Gia Reynosa then got Sabrina Gilbert to pop out to second with a runner at third to keep it a 1-1 game.
• With neither side doing much offensively heading into the bottom of the seventh, momentum was on MACU's side as Kiley Flores came up with a pinch-hit infield single to the hole at third that deflected of the ranging third baseman's glove before Saina Willis drew a walk on a full count to put Flores in scoring position. With MACU's red-hot leadoff hitter coming to the plate, Rodriguez smashed the walk-off RBI single up the middle to score Flores from second as she slid in just before the tag could be applied to wrap-up the 2-1 final.

GAME NOTES

• Mid-America Christian scored its two runs on five hits while the Eagles scored their lone run on six hits and committed one error.
• Of MACU's five hits, Serena Rodriguez was responsible for three of them as she batted 3-for-4 and scored the team's first run of the game while notching the RBI on the final run.
• Kiley Flores tallied one of MACU's other two hits in her pinch-hit appearance to finish 1-for-1 to go along with scoring the winning run.
• Mia Macias recorded the lone MACU extra-base hit with her double in the first to finish 1-for-3 from the plate.
• Gia Reynosa put together her best start of the season in the circle, as she went the distance for the second-straight day, allowing only one earned run on six hits with a walk and six strikeouts over seven innings of work.
• By getting the win, the Evangels split the regular season series with the Eagles at 2-2 and improved to 38-19 in the all-time series since 2005.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will be back on the road for a four-game series next week as the Evangels will head out to Plainview, Texas to take on Wayland Baptist. That series is scheduled to begin on Friday with the first game slated for a 2 p.m. first pitch.