BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- In a dramatic Great American Conference Tournament semifinal game, Oklahoma Baptist rallied in the bottom of the seventh to stun Southern Nazarene, 6-4, at Bentonville's Tiger Athletic Complex.
Trailing 4-3 entering the final frame, the Bison found late-game heroics when
Ally Ryan crushed a three-run, walk-off homer to left-center, scoring
Greenlee Wells and pinch-runner
Ayzia Shirey. The clutch blast capped off a back-and-forth affair and sent OBU (36-16) into the tourney championship, while SNU (33-21) was left heartbroken.
SNU held narrow leads through much of the game. The Crimson Storm scratched across single runs in the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, highlighted by a sacrifice fly from Eden Anderson and an RBI single from Hailey Evans. Kelsi Hilton sparked the offense with two runs scored and a hit.
OBU answered each time though. A two-run double from
Sammie Greene tied the game at 2-2 in the fifth, and
Nichelle Marshall's solo homer in the sixth evened things up again (3-3).
In the circle,
Morgan Max (7-8) earned the win in relief, tossing three innings while allowing two earned runs. She also added a crucial seventh-inning double that set the stage for Ryan's walk-off.
SNU starter Jaiden Worthington (10-5) was effective early but struggled late, surrendering five hits, eight walks, and six earned runs in a grueling 133-pitch outing.
Offensively, both teams managed just five or six hits, but OBU's patience at the plate—drawing eight walks—proved decisive. Ryan led the way with three RBI, while Greene and Marshall each drove in key runs. Speaking of walks, Max moved her season total to 37, surpassing Jayme Boyer's 2007 single-season record of 36.
With the win, OBU moves on to play top seed Southern Arkansas in the tournament final tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. It's OBU's first appearance in the GAC Tournament title contest.
