ALVA, Okla.—Southern Nazarene (12-11, 4-6 GAC) completed their first sweep of the season as they followed yesterday's 8-5 win over Northwestern Oklahoma State (4-20, 1-8 GAC) with two more wins on Saturday afternoon. The Storm used great pitching to earn the wins, talking game one 5-1, before picking up a 6-1 win in game two.
Game 1:
A masterful pitching performance from Janie Worthington led Southern Nazarene to a 5-1 win over Northwestern in game one. Worthington pitched a complete game, striking out nine batters. She allowed a leadoff homerun, but only gave up one more hit for the remainder of the game.
The game appeared to be headed for a high-scoring affair after Southern Nazarene pushed two runs across in the first inning and Northwestern followed with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first, but the scoring slowed from there as the only runs scored following the first inning were three more SNU runs.
In the first inning, Southern Nazarene took advantage of three Northwestern errors. Putting the ball in play and forcing the Ranger defense into mistakes was key as Northwestern totaled five errors in the contest.
Leading just 2-1 in the fourth inning, the Crimson Storm expanded their advantage after another error brought home both Noa Dodson and McKayla Franks. They then added one more run in the seventh inning when Hailey Evans blasted her fourth home run of the season.
Worthington closed the game on a strong note, striking out the side in order in the bottom of the seventh. She also did damage at the plate, racking up 2 of SNU's 7 hits in the game.
Game 2:
It would be tough for anyone to follow Worthington's game one performance, but Maddie Southerland was up to the challenge. She pitched phenomenally all game and finished off a complete game win, leading SNU to a 6-1 victory in the series
Southern Nazarene used a three-run second inning to jump in front and never look back. An RBI groundout from Macy Stewart brought home the first run. The following at-bat, Liana Heshiki blasted a two-run shot that gave SNU more than enough cushion for the remainder of the game.
The following inning, SNU collected another two-run blast, this time off the bat of Emma Swearingen, for her second home run of the season.
The Storm added one more run in the fifth inning when Hannah Morales singled home Noa Dodson.
Southern Arkansas's lone run came on an RBI single with two outs in the seventh inning.
Southerland did a fantastic job working around baserunners. She forced the Rangers into 9 runners left on base for the game.
Heshiki, Morales, and Natalie Jones all picked up a pair of hits in the game.
The Crimson Storm will look to ride this momentum into next week, where SNU will have plenty of action. The Storm are set to host Newman in back-to-back double-headers on Tuesday and Wednesday before a tough Great American Conference series at Southern Arkansas. The double-headers with Newman are set for 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday and 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday. All four games will take place at Tere Webber Field at the Cypert Athletic Complex.
