BETHANY, Okla.—The Southern Nazarene University Softball team made it three wins in a row as they completed a comeback victory over Southwestern Oklahoma State by walking off the Bulldogs to earn an 8-6 win.
Southern Nazarene (7-15, 4-4 GAC) found themselves trailing 6-2 early, but the team put together a late rally to earn the victory. The Storm tallied two runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings as they stole the game late from Southwestern Oklahoma State (3-13, 2-7 GAC).
SWOSU got the scoring going early with three runs in the first inning. Eventually, Jennifer Romero got out of the inning, earning all three outs via strikeout. The Storm earned two runs back an inning later as an RBI single from Hailey Evans and an RBI double from Natalie Jones trimmed the Bulldog lead to just 3-2.
After scoreless third and fourth innings, SWOSU regained control of the game with a three-run fifth inning, capped off with a two-RBI single that pushed the Bulldogs to their largest lead of the day at 6-2. From there, though, it was all SNU.
In the bottom half of the fifth inning, Southern Nazarene took two runs back on a Hailie Fellers two-run shot to dead center field. The following inning, SNU tied the game on another two-run blast, this time off the bat of Liana Heshiki, the first home run of Heshiki's career.
Hannah Sattler came into the game in the top of the sixth inning and worked two complete innings to earn the win. She worked around runners in scoring position in each inning to keep the Bulldogs stuck at six runs.
In the bottom of the seventh, SNU got started quickly with a leadoff double from Hailie Fellers. Anna Icenhower would then walk. Fellers advanced to third base following a Hannah Morales sacrifice bunt. Lacie Winchester then came into the game to pinch hit. Despite just eight at-bats coming into the game, Winchester was not phased. Facing a two-strike count, Winchester got her pitch and blasted the ball back to center field. SWOSU had no choice but to watch it bounce off the wall, resulting in a two-run walk-off double that gave the Crimson Storm their third consecutive win of the season.
The Storm have now moved to .500 in the Great American Conference and will look to move above .500 tomorrow with two more wins. The series with Southwestern closes tomorrow with a double-header at the SNU Softball Field. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.
