BY OAKLEE FIELDER
NWOSU softball lost their three games of the week to Oklahoma Baptist while at home, increasing their loss streak to eight games.
Although they lost to Oklahoma Baptist, they played competitive games against the Lady Bison. Throughout all games, they didn’t lose by more than three runs.
OBU 7-4 NWOSU
The Lady Rangers lost to the Lady Bison in the three-game series opened by three runs. Savannah Duran and Jamie Molina were able to get two hits in the series opener.
Oklahoma Baptist scored twice in the first inning. Molina hit a double in the same inning, which allowed Duran to run home. Then, the Lady Bison scored three in the second and one in the fourth, which was responded by a single from Abby Baglin which sent Duran home.
The Lady Bison scored once more in the fifth, giving them a five-run lead over the Lady Rangers. Then in the seventh, Kaitlyn Corn hit a doble to send Kaylee Madden home which sparked a small moment of momentum for Northwestern. Molina hit a single into left field allowing Corn to run home. Unfortunately, the Lady Rangers were unable to keep the ball rolling and lost by three runs.
Duran and Molina were the best in the batter’s box, but there were multiple players with hits. Katy Jones pitched for five innings and had four strikeouts. Madelyn Cason finished off the game for Jones and had only a single run against her in the two innings she pitched.
OBU 6-3 NWOSU
In game two against the Lady Bison, Northwestern had the lead in the middle stage of the game.
The Lady Rangers scored the first runs of the game in the fourth inning. By the end of the inning, they were up by three. Natalie Ackenhausen hit a single, allowing Baglin to run home. Then, Madden hit a single that went through the right. The Lady Bison attempted to throw Ackenhausen out as she ran home, but failed, giving Northwestern another run and Madden made it to second.
Corn hit a double to send Madden home, and that was all the scoring the Lady Rangers had. Oklahoma Baptist scored three in the sixth and three in the seventh, giving them the three-run win over Northwestern.
Molina was one of the best batters again, along with Taygan Graham who both had two hits each. Cason and Jones were the pitchers once again, with Cason starting this time around. Cason had four strikeouts and Jones had two.
OBU 9-7 NWOSU
The Lady Rangers scored five in the opening inning of game three against Oklahoma Baptist. Unfortunately, the Lady Bison found a way to find a way around it and defeated the Lady Rangers by two.
The Lady Bison opened the scoring with one in the first. Then, Raelyn Sandlin hit a single and there was an error by the OBU shortstop. This allowed Corn to run home. Then, the Lady Bison pitcher walked the next two batters with the bases loaded, handing NWOSU two runs. Makanalei Lapera hit a single to right field to send Sandlin home. Then Madden hit a ground out to short stop, but this allowed Graham to run home and score.
In the following inning, Sandlin hit a single with an error from the Lady Bison shortstop again. Sandlin’s hit sent Baglin home. The Lady Bison hit a homerun to make it a two-run game.
In the fifth, Jazmine Mikel hit a ground out into double play, getting her and Graham out. Despite the double play, Sandlin ran home and scored, giving NWOSU a three-run lead. The Lady Bison scored five runs in the sixth, giving them the lead by two, which Northwestern was unable to recover from.
There weren’t many standouts in the batter’s box for Northwestern as nobody had more than one hit. Grace Hulsey was the starting pitcher for the Lady Rangers. Hulsey had five strikeouts. Katelyn Bezdicek was the reliever and only had one hit against her.
The next games for the Lady Rangers are against Henderson State University this weekend.