BRANSON, Mo. – Oklahoma Baptist (1-3) got its first win of the season on Saturday after it secured a 5-1 victory over Drury. That was followed up by a narrow, 3-2 defeat to Southwest Baptist University.
GAME ONE
The Bison exploded for a four-run 4th inning during its victory over Drury. Early on, the Panthers secured a 1-0 advantage in the first. However, that would turn out to be the only score of the game for the Great Lakes Valley Conference school.
After
Jaycee Shaffer retired the Drury side in the top half of the fourth, OBU came back with four runs on five hits. Three straight singles by
Kaley Cook,
Haley Hacker and
Sammie Greene helped the Bison tie the game at 1-1. Then, slugger
Ally Ryan smacked a two-run double to left and plated Greene and Hacker for OBU's second and third runs.
Finally that frame,
Abby Laskowski boosted the Bison's advantage to 4-1 with an RBI single which scored Ryan.
OBU found one more run an inning later when
Morgan Max roped a double, scoring Hacker.
In the circle, Shaffer was outstanding. She tied her career-high with 7.0 innings pitched and seven strikeouts. Plus, the lone run allowed was unearned. Shaffer also got 10 ground-ball outs.
Offensively, five different Bison recorded hits.
GAME TWO
This low-scoring affair brought some fine defense from both teams.
For OBU, transfer pitcher
Jorja Barrett held her own, tossing 4.1 frames, allowing just one earned run and striking out seven. She also got six ground-ball outs.
Bearcats pitcher Shalie Wooden went the distance and fanned five OBU batters. Also of note, Southwest Baptist retrieved a whopping 14 fly balls during the contest.
A couple wild pitches proved costly for OBU. In the fourth, SBU's Kate McConville got the game's first run before Margo Frossard plated the Bearcats' third score in the fifth after another errant pitch. McConville also provided an RBI single in the fifth to aid SBU.
As for the Bison, Greene delivered some late hope. In the sixth, the senior centerfielder belted a shot over the left center fence and brought the tally to 3-2, SBU. Hacker also scored on that hit.
OBU's last chance to tie in the seventh was present. After Cook singled and stole second, Hacker was hit-by-pitch which put two one. However, a fly-ball out to center was induced by Wooden and preserved victory for the Bearcats.
By game's end, Greene and Cook led the Bison with two hits apiece. Also, until the first run of the game in the fourth, the Bison had put three runners in scoring position but weren't able to convert.
Tomorrow, OBU will close its trip with games against Upper Iowa and Missouri Southern.
