SHAWNEE – The 17-4 Oklahoma Baptist softball team will be back in action tomorrow against GAC foe Southern Nazarene at Bison Softball Park. Doubleheader action is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m.
The Crimson Storm have won six of the last seven in this series, including a 1-0 win in the GAC Tournament last May which ended OBU's season. However, this season, SNU has lost four of five, sit at 9-9 overall and 1-4 in the GAC.
For the green and gold, they are coming off a three-game sweep of Northwestern Oklahoma State last week. OBU won by 6-4, 7-4 and 12-4 scores against the Lady Rangers and improved their GAC record to 4-2. The Bison are just a game back of first-place teams Harding and Southeastern.
Freshman GAC Player of the Week
Kennedy Clark led the charge for the Bison in those wins against Northwestern. She batted .875 and drove in six runs, both team highs. As a team, OBU batted .440 with eight players hitting at least .333.
This year, OBU's offense as a unit and individually stacks up well in the GAC. Take a look:
| Team |
Individually |
| Batting: .301; 3rd |
Emily Adler (.464; 2nd) & Clark (.455; 3rd) |
| Walks: 64; 2nd |
Runs Scored: Reagan Ford: 17; 3rd |
| Hits: 182; 2nd |
Hits: Adler; 32; GAC leader |
| Total Bases: 231; 3rd |
Sac Bunts: Adi Reese; 5; 2nd |
| RBI: 94; 4th |
Walks: Morgan Max; 11; T5th |
On the pitching front, Northwestern got ahold of OBU pitching a bit over the weekend, but the green and gold are still ranked the best in the GAC.
| ERA: 1.41; GAC leader & 14th in D2 |
| Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio: 5.78; 4th nationally |
| Shutouts: 6; T12th in D2 |
| Strikeouts: Kayleigh Jones; 143; national leader |
| Victories: Jones; 13; 2nd in D2 |
Southern Nazarene is off to an up and down start to 2023. They had a four-game winning streak from Feb. 12 to the 17th but have lost five of six as previously stated. To date, SNU is 11th in the GAC in team batting average (.294) and fielding percentage (.946). In the circle, the Storm check in at No. 7 with a team ERA of 3.82. One of its biggest issues is hit batters. They have hit 19 batters which is worst in the GAC.
Here's how the Storm stack up individually in the conference:
| Batting Average: Hailey Evans; .436; 3rd |
| Hits: Evans; 24; 3rd |
| Doubles: Liana Heshiki; 8; 2nd |
| Sac Flies; Heshiki; 2; T2nd |
| No SNU pitcher ranks in the top-10 of any major category in the GAC |
