Box Score (Game 1)
Box Score (Game 2)
Box Score (Game 3)
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Brutal doesn't quite describe the two-day, eight team, double-elimination Sooner Athletic Conference Softball Tournament. Words like ridiculous, crazy and maybe even stupid can be tossed around, but one thing that can definitely be said is the tournament is exciting.
Southern Nazarene came away Friday with a pair of wins and nearly could have had a trio of victories if one would have gone another way. SNU opened the day with a 1-0 win over Oklahoma Christian before falling 8-7 to Lubbock Christian and then ended the night with a 3-2 win over Rogers State.
The win over RSU propelled the Storm (44-15) into the final day of play, but set a daunting task in front of SNU as it will have to win four games in one day to win the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament.
Jordan Simmons (20-6) tossed her 10th shutout of the year in the win over Oklahoma Christian. She allowed just three hits and struck out seven and SNU scored all four of its runs in the top of the fifth.
OC's Leigh Leonard had scattered four hits and hadn't allowed a run heading into the fifth and struck out the first batter in the top of the fifth before
Aubrey Jones ripped a single into left and then went to second on a Lady Eagle error.
Katie Turner walked before
Katie Hale launched a 3-run bomb to right center to give SNU a 3-0 lead. Madden added to that in the next at bat with a solo home run to give SNU a 4-0 lead and the Storm held on from there.
Turner, Madden and
Allison Fields all went 2-for-3 in that game.
SNU was dominant in the first four and a half innings against Lubbock Christian before deja vu hit for the Crimson Storm in the fifth. Southern Nazarene scored one in the first on a single to right by
Kristina Forest and then added four in the third to lead 5-1. Hale led off the third with a solo shot to left center before
Kacey Acker hit a two-run shot deep to center to give the Storm a 4-1 lead. Jones drove in the final run of the inning with a single through the left side. SNU extended the lead to 6-1 with a single to right in the fifth to score Fields.
Then came that same feeling SNU felt last weekend in Lubbock, Texas.
The Lady Chaps scored four runs in the fifth and three in the sixth to take an 8-6 lead and would not give it up from there. SNU did get one run back on a solo home run from
Keli Billups, but the Storm fell just short.
Aubrey Jones was perfect at the plate going 4-for-4 with an RBI. Acker went 2-for-3 while Hale, Billups and
Kara Crawford all went 2-for-4.
Tiffany Gossett (3-3) took the loss after allowing three runs on two-thirds of an inning.
The Storm looked to be on the ropes early as RSU's Amanda Edwards had not allowed a hit through the first three innings of the play. The Hillcats scored one in the first and one in the second before SNU finally broke through in the fourth. Hale led off the inning with a single to left that bounced off the left fielder and allowed Hale to go to second. She was pushed over on a Madden fly out before Forest singled to center to put SNU on the board. Forest then came around to score on Billups single to right.
Kaci Crawford, who came on in relief of Simmons, closed out the second and was brilliant from that point on. She didn't allow a run and gave up three hits while fanning seven and kept the Hillcats off the board the rest of the night.
That set the stage for the bottom of the seventh.
Aubrey Jones led off with a single to right before Daphne Stewarts' single pushed runners over to second and third after a throw to third. Turner then delivered with a bloop single to right to score Jones from third and put SNU into Saturday play.
Crawford moved to 21-6 on the year with the win and moved into fourth in strikeouts in a single season in school history.
SNU will now play Oklahoma Christian tomorrow at 11 a.m. inside the main stadium at the ASA Softball Hall of Fame. The winner will play Lubbock Christian at 1 p.m. with the winner of the game playing Oklahoma City at 5:30 p.m. If OCU happens to lose the 5:30 p.m. the if-necessary game will be played at 7:30 p.m.
