BENTONVILLE, Ark.—Coming into the 2023 GAC tournament, an eight seed had only defeated the number one seed one time in the history of the GAC softball tournament. That number increased to two on Thursday afternoon when Southern Nazarene stunned the GAC regular season champions, Oklahoma Baptist, 7-2 in the quarterfinals of the tournament.
Southern Nazarene (25-27) was swept by Oklahoma Baptist (43-10) during the regular season, although all three games were decided by either one or two runs. There was a much bigger gap on the scoreboard on Thursday as SNU used a great staff effort to go along with a solid offensive performance to shock the GAC and move on to the semifinals.
It was a wet game throughout as the rain never stopped coming down onto the turf field. SNU battled through the rain, though, and continued to make great defensive plays behind a phenomenal pitching effort.
The Crimson Storm were propelled in the second inning when Hannah Morales blasted a grand slam to put SNU in front 4-0. The inning got started when Hailey Evans reached on an error. Oklahoma Baptist would gain two outs, but a hit by pitch loaded the bases with two outs. Morales, who entered the game without a home run this season, stepped in the box. Facing an 0-2 count, Morales fouled off some tough pitches before turning on an inside fastball and launching a missile to left field. There was no doubt off the bat that it had the distance, but the ball hugged the left field line, trying to turn foul. A loud clank off the foul pole left no doubt that it was a grand slam to give SNU a 4-0 lead.
The home run was a huge confidence booster for Southern Nazarene as they were up against the Great American Conference pitcher of the year in Kayleigh Jones. Jones had not given up a home run in her last six appearances.
Oklahoma Baptist got one run back in the third inning and threatened for more, but relief pitcher Janie Worthington entered the game and slammed the door. She was phenomenal in the circle, pitching the final 4.1 innings with 4 strikeouts and 1 run allowed on her way to the win.
The SNU offense was stymied from the third inning through the sixth inning, but they broke the game open in the seventh inning with a three-spot that pushed their lead to a commanding 7-1 advantage. The Storm used five hits in the inning, including a huge two-RBI double from Hailey Evans, to extend their lead. SNU's seven runs off of Kayleigh Jones was the most she has allowed in any game this season.
The Bison threatened the Crimson Storm a bit in the seventh inning when they loaded the bases with no outs, but Worthington recovered to force three straight fly outs, one of which was a sacrifice fly, to preserve the win and give SNU a big victory over the Bison.
SNU used great at-bats all game to earn the victory. They continuously fought off tough pitches and waited out their at-bats. They collected 10 hits in the game, three more than any team has achieved off of Jones this season. Emma Swearingen notched a pair of hits in the game, as did Morales, who added a single in the seventh to go along with her grand slam.
SNU is now set to take on fourth seeded Southeastern Oklahoma State in the Great American Conference semifinals. Southeastern won two of three over SNU in the regular season, but as SNU just showed, anything can happen during the postseason.
The rain that SNU played through on Thursday ultimately caused the final two games of the quarterfinals to be postponed. The other two quarterfinals games will now be played on Friday afternoon, pushing SNU's semifinal game with Southeastern Oklahoma State to Saturday, May 6. To stay up to date on game times for the semifinals and championship game of the GAC tournament, visit the GAC Softball Championship Page.
