BETHANY, Okla. — Southern Nazarene Softball made a statement Tuesday in their doubleheader with No. 12 ranked Central Oklahoma, going 1-1 against the Bronchos on the Storm home field.
Central Oklahoma has been a highly reputable program over the years, making it to the World Series last season and racking up 12 wins to the Storm's lone one win, prior to Tuesday, throughout the SNU-UCO series history. Earlier this season, the Storm (11-8, 2-1 GAC) dropped to the Bronchos (8-6, 0-0 MIAA) by 11 runs at the OC/UCO Classic.
Southern Nazarene came out with a chip on their shoulder in Game 1 and hit UCO with a seven run second inning that propelled them to victory. The Storm had a tougher time in Game 2 as the Bronchos' bats decided to wake up, recording a whopping 13 hits to defeat SNU by seven.
Game 1
SNU felt the power early from UCO as their first four runs were scored by two home runs, one for a lofty three runs, and the other a solo. After the early blow, the Storm had enough and pieced together an incredible seven-run second inning, following the impressive pitching from freshman
Ashley Larson.
Maddie Riley began the scoring frenzy by reaching on a fielder's choice that scored
Kristen Mullendore. Lead-off batter
Hailey Evans fired a double with the bases loaded, scoring
Emma Green, Riley and
Sydney Sundbye to tie the Bronchos at 4-4.
Liana Heshiki put SNU in the lead in the next at-bat with a single to left field to score Peyton Novelle.
Emma Swearingen capped off the offensive explosion with another double to left center, pushing
Mikayla Oaks and Heshiki home to lead the No. 12 Bronchos 7-4 heading into the third inning.
UCO managed to cut the Storm's lead down to two runs from a double with two outs on the board, sending one home for the 7-5 trail. The game became a battle from the circle as Larson continued to deliver the fire, serving UCO out after out to keep them at their early five runs. Central Oklahoma's Shelby Beard came in for relief in the second inning, and also kept the Storm off the scoreboard.
The two teams traded a few hits in the final few innings, but the pitching battle remained strong, with Larson defending her team's two-run lead for the eventual 7-5 final win over the nationally-ranked Bronchos.
Larson recorded her second win of the season with seven innings pitched and allowing just one of UCO's five total runs.
Green was the only Storm player to record two hits out of her three at-bats while Evans led in RBIs with three.
Game 2
UCO found some fire to start the second game, tallying a total of 14 runs to the Storm's seven. A wild pitch put UCO on the board first, but SNU was quick with a response in the second inning as Sundbye reached on a fielder's choice as UCO had a tough time in the field. Oaks was able to score on a throwing error by the Bronchos, tying the game early at 1-1.
The Bronchos decided to let their No. 12 title show in the third inning with six runs from a three run bomb, an SNU error, a double, and a wild pitch. Evans answered in the bottom half of the third with a bomb of her own over the left field fence to close UCO's gap down to 9-2.
After a scoreless fourth inning, the Bronchos resumed their fire in the fifth after reaching first on another SNU error, bumping them up to an eight run lead. With Evans up-to the plate, she was able to reach first on a Bronchos error, this time, scoring
Kenedi Morelock to trail 10-3. This sparked a burst of offensive energy for SNU as they challenged UCO with four more runs from singles off the bats of Mullendore, Oaks, and Sundbye, as well as a sac fly from Swearingen.
With the Storm now close behind at 10-7, UCO felt the pressure and caught fire again in the final inning, blasting a two run home run to left center followed by a solo home run straight over the center field wall to shoot up to a 14-7 lead.
Unfortunately for the Storm, they were unable to overcome the seven-run deficit. Swearingen was able to get one from a single, but Oaks grounded into a double play and the No. 12 Bronchos another defeat from SNU, winning by a final score of 14-7.
Up Next
The Storm will see their first GAC road series this season as they travel to Ada, OK to take on East Central Friday March 1st at 3 p.m. followed by a noon doubleheader the following Saturday.
