SHAWNEE, Okla.—Jennifer Romero-Ivarson and Anna Icenhower simply know how to get it done against Oklahoma Baptist as the duo propelled SNU to their second 1-0 win over the Bison as Jennifer Romero-Ivarson once again pitched a complete game shutout and Anna Icenhower again came away with the game's only run on a solo home run. The Storm would drop game two of the evening, though, falling 9-5.
Game 1:
Game one was unlike many others in that Southern Nazarene was actually the home team playing at Oklahoma Baptist. SNU was supposed to host the series double-header back on March 8, but that game was moved to a single game. SNU was still guaranteed two home games, resulting in being named the designated home team in Shawnee on Tuesday. Despite the setup of the game being unlike most others, the game on the field could not have been more similar to that of the game back on March 8.
The March 8 line score for Southern Nazarene read 1 run, 4 hits, and 1 error. For Oklahoma Baptist, it read 1 run, 3 hits, and no errors. Tuesday's linescore was almost identical as SNU mustered 1 run on 5 hits and committed 1 error. Oklahoma Baptist was again held scoreless on 5 hits and did not commit an error. The March 8 game lasted 1 hour and 27 minutes. Tuesday's game one lasted 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Beyond the similar line scores and length of game times, the path to the end result was eerily similar. The lone run in the game came on an Anna Icenhower solo home run in the second inning, just as it did back on March 8. The biggest difference in the two games was how Romero got her outs. She relied heavily on the strikeout earlier this season, but leaned on her defense this evening. She recorded just 1 strikeout, but forced a lot of soft contact and easy outs for the Crimson Storm defense.
Oklahoma Baptist had their chance in the sixth inning after an error and a passed ball put the tying run at third base, but a groundout and a flyout ended that threat and later led to Romero-Ivarson's 8th complete game and 10th win of the season.
Game 2:
After playing 14 scoreless innings against Southern Nazarene, Oklahoma Baptist finally broke through in game two. They rattled off 7 runs in the first inning and cruised to a 9-5 win over the Crimson Storm in game two.
SNU crawled back to within four runs on a couple of occasions, but the seven run first inning proved to be too much to overcome.
The long-ball was working for the Crimson Storm in the game as they smacked three more solo home runs off the bats of Emma Swearingen, Sydney Everhart, and once again Anna Icenhower. Incredibly, Icenhower has now homered in four of her last nine at-bats.
Swearingen added a double to her line, while Hailie Fellers was the other Crimson Storm member with multiple hits, roping a pair of singles in the game.
Hannah Sattler did a phenomenal job calming the storm in relief. She pitched 5.1 innings, giving up 2 runs, 1 of which was unearned, and striking out 2 batters.
Southern Nazarene continues to inch closer in the Great American Conference standings. With Tuesday's split, they now sit just one game behind Harding for third in the GAC. The Storm have their chance to potentially make up that game this weekend as they travel to Ada to take on East Central. SNU dropped the series two games to one last season with the Tigers, but had won six straight over ECU prior to that. The teams will play a single game on Friday 3:30 p.m. followed by a noon double-header on Saturday.
