SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist (12-6, 6-0 GAC) returns to Bison Softball Park for a third consecutive weekend on Saturday, prepped for a clash with GAC foe Southeastern Oklahoma State (9-10, 3-3 GAC).
OBU will play a doubleheader tomorrow at 1 p.m. before wrapping up the series with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Fans can watch the action on the Bison Sports Network with the play-by-play commentary of Clayton Coffman.
The red-hot Bison bring a seven-game winning streak into Saturday's meeting, fresh off its second straight conference sweep. OBU is the last team with an undefeated GAC record, as it is off to its best start in conference action since 2020.
Oklahoma Baptist won three games over Northwestern Oklahoma State last week on the back of a near-flawless effort from the OBU pitching staff that allowed one run all weekend. The Bison posted a 0.41 ERA across 17.0 innings, highlighted by a historic no-hitter from Kayleigh Jones.
Jones registered 11 punchouts in five frames in the series opening run-rule victory. It was her fifth career no-hitter, the most in OBU history, and a tie for the all-time Great American Conference record set by Henderson State's Michelle Sorensen. Jones just missed a perfect game as she issued a pair of walks.
Jones garnered the league's Pitcher of the Week award for the performance, the 15th of her career. The win improved Jones' record to 6-2, the second-most wins in the GAC.
Freshman Maggie Place collected the other two victories, which brought her record to 4-4. Place recorded seven strikeouts and gave up six hits without surrendering a run in 8.2 innings. She twirled her first shutout of her career on Saturday, striking out six and allowing five hits in OBU's 7-0 series-clinching victory.
The duo holds season ERA's of 2.26 and 2.72, respectively, and have recorded 113 strikeouts. Jones' 89 punchouts rank fourth in the nation and lead the conference, while Place has allowed the third-least amount of runs in the GAC (17). Additionally, Place has surrendered three walks in 38.2 innings, the least in the league and the 15th-fewest in Division II.
OBU is hitting .273 on the year and has recorded the sixth-most RBI in the GAC (79). During its seven-game streak, they're batting .350 and have outscored opponents 41-9. Four have hit over .400 over the span, including Kennedy Clark (.529) and Sammie Greene (.423)
This season, Ally Ryan paces Oklahoma Baptist with a .415 batting average, which is sixth in the conference. Ryan also has team highs in slugging (.780), on-base percentage (.554), home runs (4), total bags (32), and RBI (19). She ranks top-five on the league's leaderboards in each of those categories.
SCOUTING SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA STATE
The Savage Storm carry a 9-10 overall record with a 3-3 mark against GAC opponents. They are coming off a 1-0 loss to MIAA affiliate Northeastern State on Tuesday.
The last time the two met, Southeastern defeated OBU 3-0 to claim the series two games to one in Durant. Oklahoma Baptist played without the bat of Greene in the series finale, who was hitting .500 and slugging 1.250 through the first two games.
Southeastern pairs a team batting average of .300 with the league's sixth-best ERA (4.19).
Senior outfielder Gracie Ore leads the squad with the fifth-best batting average (.420) in the GAC. She has scored 13 runs and collected 10 RBI thus far.
Sage Harlow and Kady Fryrear trail with averages of .373 and .357, respectively. Harlow has team leads in hits (22) and RBI (12) with only two strikeouts.
Significant time in the circle has been split between three pitchers. Amberlyn Walsworth paces the trio with a 3-2 record and 29 strikeouts. She also owns a 3.71 ERA. Reese Taylor and Emily Simmons have earned run averages of 3.26 and 4.69, respectively.
Head coach Mackenzie Sher is in her second season in Durant, and has a 42-37 (.532) record. She holds a 112-128 overall tally with four other seasons coached at Union (TN).
