Box Score (Game 1)
Box Score (Game 2)
CLAREMORE, Okla. — Southern Nazarene had a doubleheader sweep all but wrapped up as SNU scored a 7-4 win in the opener, but lost a 6-4 lead in the seventh and a 7-6 lead in the ninth before falling 8-7 to Rogers State in the final game.
The Crimson Storm (30-14, 13-5 SAC) did secure their fourth straight 30-win season, but lost its only extra-inning game of the year.
Rogers State plated the first run of the day in the bottom of the second on an SNU error, but the Crimson Storm took the lead with three runs in the third and never gave it back up. The Storm scored the first two runs on a single to right by
Kristina Forest and an RSU error before
Aubrey Jones ripped a single to left to give SNU the 3-1 lead.
Southern Nazarene added three more in the fifth to lead 6-1. The first came in on another Hillcat error before a bases-loaded hit by pitch and a bases-loaded walk. Rogers cut it to 6-2 in the bottom half of the inning, but SNU tacked on another run in the sixth on an
Amy Madden single to short to lead 7-2.
The Hillcats looked to be rallying in the seventh with a two-out, two-run home run, but
Kaci Crawford struck out the final batter of the game to secure the win.
Crawford moved to 12-6 with the win as the senior recorded her fourth straight victory. It was her 10
th complete game of the year as she gave up just three earned runs on five hits and struck out six.
Forest was a perfect 3-for-3 with an RBI while Jones and
Kylie Lang were each 2-for-4. Jones had an RBI and a run scored while Lang scored two. Clemence also scored a pair of runs while going 2-for-5.
Kacey Acker went 1-for-3 with an RBI and set the school's single-season record for being hit by a pitch. The sophomore has been hit 15 times this season breaking the record set in 2001 by Jennifer Sechrist.
The Crimson Storm held a 6-4 lead through the fifth inning in the nightcap after SNU scored three in the first, two in the third and one in the fifth. The Storm scored three in the first on a single by Forest and a two-out, two run single by Madden to take a 3-0 lead. After giving up the lead in the bottom of the second, at 4-3, the Storm got two back on a Jones home run to left field to take the 5-4 advantage. Jones pushed her third run across the plate in the fifth with a single to center as SNU held the Hillcats scoreless for four straight innings from the third through the sixth.
Rogers put the first three batters of the seventh on base with a walk and two singles before Taran Threet drilled a single to left to tie the game and forced extra innings. After a scoreless eighth,
Katie Turner singled to right to give the Storm a 7-6 lead in the ninth. RSU though answered with a single to start the ninth and tied the game at 7-7 before two straight singles ended the night to split the doubleheader and the season series.
Jones finished the night 3-for-5 at the plate with two RBIs and a run scored. Crawford took the loss to fall to 12-7 on the season after she entered the seventh with a save opportunity. She threw the final two and one-thirds innings allowing just one earned run on four hits.
Jeneva Nelson gave up three runs on three hits in the first two innings before
Maci-Brooke Lambert allowed just two runs on four hits in four innings of work.
The Crimson Storm now head to Oklahoma City for a Thursday doubleheader set to start at 5 p.m.