BETHANY, Okla.—A perfect day for softball in Bethany turned even better after Southern Nazarene picked up two wins, including a thrilling 6-4 walk-off win over No. 1 Rogers State on Sunday afternoon in the final two games of the Raising Cane's Softball Festival.
Game 1:
The Crimson Storm were not phased at all going up against the reigning national champions and current nationally ranked No. 1 Rogers State Hillcats. SNU was poised all game and slowly tacked on runs before picking up the big blow with a two-run walk-off home run off the bat of Natalie Jones.
Rogers State struck first with a run in the top of the first inning, but the Southern Nazarene bats made noise early, too. They scored one run in each of the first four innings to keep the pressure on the Hillcats. After three innings, SNU found themselves up 3-2 on the defending national champions.
The game could have gotten away from SNU in the fourth inning after Rogers State picked up two runs to retake the lead, but again the Crimson Storm scratched across a run to tie the game when McKayla Franks singled home Kennedy Sherer.
The scoring stalled in the fifth and sixth innings, leaving the game tied at 4 heading into the seventh. Katelyn Woodard quickly retired the Hillcats in the top of the seventh, leaving Southern Nazarene with an opportunity for their second walk-off win of the weekend.
It appeared the game was destined for extra innings, though. After two quick outs to start the inning, Hailey Evans, Friday's walk-off hero, hit a lazy pop-up to second base. Instead of an inning-ending popout, the ball was dropped, allowing Evans to reach base and extend the inning for Natalie Jones.
Jones took full advantage of the inning-extending error. She exploded through the first pitch of the at-bat and blasted it over the left-center wall, walking-off No. 1 Rogers State and handing them their first loss of the season.
Jones finished the game 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs. Kennedy Sherer also recorded 3 hits and crossed home plate 2 times.
Katelyn Woodard earned the win in relief. She pitched 3.2 innings out of the bullpen, striking out 3 batters and keeping the Hillcats off the board over the final 3 innings.
Game 2:
Riding high off the emotions of a big win in the first game of the day, SNU maintained their poise and came away with a 4-1 win over Northeastern State in the final game of the Raising Cane's Softball Festival.
It took a little longer in game two for the offense to find the scoreboard. They finally pushed one run across after Hannah Morales reached first on an error and advanced to second following a wild pitch. Morales came around to score the game's first run on a Liana Heshiki RBI single.
SNU then added three more runs in the fifth inning after back-to-back doubles from Hailey Evans and Natalie Jones, followed by a Sydney Sundbye RBI single.
Olivia Hernandez was once again dominant in the circle. She pitched 5.2 innings in the circle and did not allow a run until a bases loaded walk in the sixth inning.
Katelyn Woodard came on in relief again and earned her first save of the season. She stranded the bases loaded and worked a scoreless seventh inning to seal SNU's eighth win of the season.
The Crimson Storm finished off their third and final weekend of festival play 8-5 after going 4-1 at home this weekend. Great American Conference play begins next time out as SNU travels to Russellville, Arkansas to take on last season's GAC regular season and tournament champions, Arkansas Tech, next Friday and Saturday, Feb. 24-25. The teams will play a single game at 4:00 p.m. on Friday before a noon double-header on Saturday.
