Manning Homers on First Pitch Twice in Split

SHAWNEE – Dani Manning homered on the first Arkansas-Monticello pitch of both games as Oklahoma Baptist split a doubleheader with the Blossoms Friday, falling 7-4 before claiming a 5-2 win.
 
Manning, a freshman, hit her third home run of the season to start the bottom of the first of the opener. OBU went up 2-0 in the first when Katie Reyes singled, stole second, moved to third on an error and scored on a wild pitch.
 
The Blossoms scored the next seven runs before OBU tacked on two in the seventh on RBI singles by Hannah Danielson and Taylor Zanca.
 
The Lady Bison collected nine hits, including two each by Reyes and Bry Flanagan.
 
Manning swatted her fourth home run for a 1-0 OBU lead in the first inning of the second game.
 
OBU took a 4-0 lead in the third. Cricket Grabin singled, Manning was hit by a pitch and both runners moved up on a sacrifice by Reyes. Grabin scored on a ground out by Flanagan before Cheyenne Demaree smacked a two-run home run to right.
 
Monticello scored twice in the fourth and had two runners in scoring position with one out before Chandler Roberts entered and got two strikeouts.
 
Zanca added a pinch hit RBI single in the sixth for the final margin.
 
Katie Long got the win with Roberts getting a save with 2.2 scoreless innings of relief.
 
The teams finish the series with a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday.