By CONNOR GRAY, Assistant Editor
The Northwestern softball team finished its series with Ouachita with a result they did not want.
The team played a doubleheader Friday and had the final game on Saturday. The Rangers came out of the series losing two out of three against the Tigers.
The first game of the doubleheader was close, as it became a pitching duel through four innings.
The Lady Rangers answered in the fifth, with three runs to put them up 3-0. Alison Zanca knocked in a run, getting a double out of it. Two batters later, Abby DeTar got a two-RBI single.
The Lady Rangers held the Tigers to one run going into the seventh, but the team did not close the game out. Ouachita Baptist got a three-RBI double to walk it off, 4-3.
“We were a strike away from winning,” head coach Ryan Wondrasek said. “We just couldn’t put it away and let them back in it.”
The next game was not so fortunate for the team. The Lady Rangers, after getting two runs to start the game, gave up 10 runs over the next three innings.
The Lady Rangers made an effort to get back in the game as they chipped away at the lead.
In the fourth, DeTar got two RBIs, and Zanca followed that up by bringing her into score, making it 10-5.
In the sixth, Morgan La Ne knocked in a run, making it 10-6. In the seventh, Jill Bouse batted in a run to make it 10-7.
The Lady Rangers did not complete the comeback and lost.
“Even though we dropped the second game, it was good to see that we came back on Saturday to salvage a win,” Wondrasek said.
The Lady Rangers did exactly that and dominated the Tigers with La Ne, Hannah Howell and Mackenzie Adams getting home runs. The Lady Rangers went on to win, 9-4, to finish the series.
The Lady Rangers faced off against a different set of tigers on Tuesday, when they played the Tigers of Fort Hays State.
The Lady Rangers dropped the first game of the double header by a score of 6-1, as the Lady Rangers struggled on both offense and defense.
TIE GAME
The second game was different, as the Lady Rangers achieved a result that has not occurred since joining Division II.
The Lady Rangers got off to another slow start, with the Tigers scoring four runs in the top of the second inning to take the lead.
The Lady Rangers responded in the bottom of the second, as Zanca homered to left field to get Northwestern on the scoreboard.
The rally continued for the Lady Rangers with a home run by DeTar that cut the lead to two. The Tigers extended the lead back to four in the fourth inning, but the rally did not stop.
After the fourth inning, the game entered a weather delay, as a lightning strike was within seven miles of the field. After the 30-minute stoppage, the game resumed.
The fifth inning involved a barrage of runs that brought the score to a 6-6 tie. With a storm moving into Alva, the game ended in a tie after six innings.
This is the first tie that the Lady Rangers have had since joining Division II. This gives the Lady Rangers a 12-17-1 record.
The Lady Rangers will be back in action Friday at 3 p.m. They will have a double header at noon and 2 p.m. against Southern Nazarene.