BETHANY, Okla.—Southern Nazarene opened up a four game set with Newman University on Tuesday afternoon, splitting both games as Newman took game one 4-1, before SNU bounced back with a 10-7 win in game two.
Game 1:
The Storm offense struggled in game one. They managed just 4 hits, none of which went for extra bases, and did not score until the final inning, leading to a 4-1 win for Newman.
The Jets led the game off with a triple and would score the following batter on a sacrifice fly. Neither team managed a hit again until Janie Worthington led the third inning off with a single. The single did not amount to much, as pinch runner Noa Dodson was caught stealing second base.
Despite four hits and three walks in the game, SNU left just 2 runners base as they grounded into a pair of double plays in the game.
Trailing 4-0 in the seventh inning, Southern Nazarene finally broke through on the scoreboard with an RBI single from McKayla Franks. That was all they could muster, though, as the comeback attempt ended with the tying run in the on-deck circle.
Game 2:
Game two was a much different story as the Crimson Storm exploded for 10 runs, their most since scoring 16 back on February 4th. They banged out 16 hits in the game and put up a crooked number in four of their six turns at bat.
The offense got started with 3 runs on 4 hits in the first inning. Natalie Jones singled home Liana Heshiki and then successfully pulled off a runners-on-the-corner double-steal with Sydney Sundbye to push the lead to 2-0. Jones came around to score on a McKayla Franks RBI single.
Newman got one run back in the second inning, but a Hailey Evans two-run bomb in the third inning pushed the lead back to 5-1. Newman responded with their own two runs in the top half of the fourth inning, but again the Crimson Storm offense kept coming. Emma Swearingen roped a two RBI single to left, scoring Sundbye and Noa Dodson, once again giving the Storm a 7-3 lead.
Newman came through one run in the fifth and a three-spot in the sixth inning to tie the game, but Southern Nazarene continued to match Newman's innings by scoring three runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth as they roped four hits in the inning. The big blow came off the bat of Macy Stewart, who singled home both McKayla Franks and Marlee Warden to extend SNU's lead back to three runs at 10-7.
Katelyn Woodard worked a clean seventh to preserve the win.
Natalie Jones and Emma Swearingen were hot at the dish all game as each recorded three hits. Swearingen, Franks, Evans, and Stewart all picked up 2 RBIs in the game.
The two teams will meet again tomorrow to close the series. First pitch of the double-header is set for 1:00 p.m.
