ADA, Okla.—Southern Nazarene notched their sixth consecutive series opening victory with a 6-3 win on the road at East Central on Friday afternoon in Ada.
The party got started quickly as Liana Heshiki turned the opening at-bat of the game into a run as she blasted a lead-off home run to right field. The Crimson Storm (17-19, 14-8 GAC) then tacked on a pair of runs in the fifth and three in the sixth as they never trailed in the game.
It took quite a while for East Central (10-22, 8-14 GAC) to put together an offense against Jennifer Romero-Ivarson. They were held without a baserunner for the first eight batters of the game, but finally cracked the hit column with two outs in the third inning on a bunt single. That would not turn into anything, though, as a lineout ended the third.
The Tigers then loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth inning after a pair of singles and an error, but Romero-Ivarson masterfully worked out of the jam with a pair of pop outs and a fielder's choice.
Southern Nazarene finally extended their 1-0 lead in the fifth inning after roping three doubles from Natalie Jones, Emma Swearingen, and Caitlyn Curlee (Bates), leading to two more runs.
East Central finally cracked the board with a run in the bottom of the fifth, but SNU broke the game open in the top of the sixth after plating three runs on three hits with the big blow being another Emma Swearingen double, this one going for two RBIs.
The Tigers scored twice in the bottom of the seventh and eventually brought the tying run to the plate with just one out, but Romero-Ivarson came through with a strikeout and a groundout to end the game.
Romero-Ivarson worked her ninth complete game of the season as she racked up 7 strikeouts and gave up just two earned runs.
Natalie Jones collected a three-hit day, while Heshiki, Swearingen, and Curlee all notched two hits in the game.
Six of the Storm's 11 hits in the game went for extra-bases.
The two squads will meet again tomorrow for the series double-header. With one win, SNU would secure their fourth straight GAC series win. With two wins, SNU could potentially vault themselves into the top-3 in the GAC, depending upon other results in the conference. First pitch for tomorrow's double-header is set for 1:00 p.m.
