BETHANY, Okla—Southern Nazarene trailed by five runs in the seventh inning, but battled all the way back to force the game into extra innings, but ultimately fell just short of a comeback victory, losing 7-6 to Oklahoma Baptist on Tuesday afternoon.
Early in the contest, both offenses struggled, combining for just two runs and four hits through the first four innings, but Oklahoma Baptist (34-9, 19-5 GAC) erupted for five runs in the fifth to take a big 6-1 lead. Southern Nazarene (20-22, 9-14 GAC) had their own rally in them, though. They plated five runs in the seventh inning to tie the game and send it into an eighth frame.
After neither side scored in the first couple of innings, SNU scored the game's first run thanks to Kennedy Sherer's aggressive baserunning. She led the inning off with a single and made her way to second base following Hannah Morales's sacrifice bunt. The following at-bat, Sherer broke for third and successfully stole the base when OBU's throw went sailing into left field, which allowed Sherer to jog home on the E2.
OBU immediately tied the game in the top of the fourth when Morgan Max blasted a leadoff homerun in the fourth inning. The score remained tied until the following inning when the Bison scored five times on three hits. The SNU defense struggled to get off the field, committing two errors in the inning which resulted in three unearned runs.
Still trailing 6-1 in the seventh inning, SNU showed fight and battled all the way back. Each of the first four batters of the inning reached as Hailey Evans doubled, McKayla Franks reached on an infield single, and Kennedy Sherer reached on a bunt single. With the bases loaded, Hannah Morales worked a walk to push SNU within four runs and bring the tying run to the plate, but back-to-back strikeouts left the Crimson Storm one out away from defeat.
Down to their final out, Liana Heshiki worked the count full, allowing the runners to take off on the pitch. She took a big hack and ripped the ball down the right field line. Heshiki hustled around the bases and made her way into third for a bases-clearing triple that brought the tying run just 60 feet away. Natalie Jones then doubled on a blooper to right field that scored pinch runner Marlee Warden and tied the game.
SNU was unable to bring Jones home for the winning run, though, as a strikeout stranded Jones as second base and forced extra innings.
In the eighth inning, Oklahoma Baptist was able to take advantage of SNU's fourth error in the game. The error eventually led to a bases loaded jam with two outs that OBU capitalized on with a single to shortstop. Maddie Southerland stopped the bleeding with an inning-ending strikeout, but not before OBU regained a 7-6 lead.
OBU pitcher Kaleigh Jones, who leads the GAC in wins, ERA, and strikeouts, started the game, but was taken out after the fifth inning. She returned to the circle after Heshiki's three-RBI triple. She made quick work of SNU in the bottom of the eighth inning to secure the win one-run win.
Kennedy Sherer was a perfect 3-for-3 with a pair of runs in the game.
Natalie Jones continued her hot streak with two more hits, including the game-tying double in the seventh.
Olivia Hernandez struck out eight batters in 4.2 innings of work.
SNU remains in eighth place in the Great American Conference standings as Henderson State also lost on Tuesday afternoon. Henderson State and the Crimson Storm will meet in a huge conference series this weekend that may decide the final spot for the GAC tournament. SNU is currently half a game up on the Reddies in the standings. Historically it has been a very tight series with the Storm holding a slim 20-19 advantage, but HSU won two of the three matchups last season. The two teams will meet on Friday at 3:00 p.m. for a single game, before a noon double-header on Saturday at Tere Webber Field at the Cypert Athletic Complex.
