Oklahoma City – Wayland Baptist fell short in the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament opener to Southwestern Christian, but they bounced back nicely with a great win over Southwestern Assemblies of God University to advance in the tournament. The Pioneers suffered the 5-0 loss to Southwestern Christian, but they completed the 6-4 victory over SAGU to end their afternoon.
Wayland Baptist began game one aggressive after getting back-to-back singles in the top of the 1
st from
Jadyn Fernandez and
Madison Martinez, but a fielder's choice and a pop up extinguished the early Pioneer scoring threat and kept the game scoreless. In the bottom of the 2
nd, Southwestern Christian cracked the scoring column with a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0.
Fernandez ripped a double for Wayland Baptist in the top of the 3
rd, but the scoring threat was canceled after a foul out and it remained 1-0, SCU. The Eagles extended their lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the 3
rd after another sacrifice fly and an RBI double down the left field line.
The Pioneers created another great scoring opportunity in the top of the 6
th when
Jenna Sepeda doubled to left to put runners on second and third with two outs.
Arianna Zubia followed with a walk to load the bases, but an unfortunate lineout that was snagged by the Eagles starting pitcher allowed Southwestern Christian to avoid the crisis yet again.
Southwestern Christian pushed across two more runs in the bottom of the 6
th after an RBI double and a run-scoring passed ball made it 5-0. Wayland Baptist got a runner on with two outs in the top of the 7
th, but they were unable to bring in any runs and suffered the game one loss to Southwestern Christian, 5-0.
Addy Rich made the start in the opening game of the SAC Tournament for the Pioneers, and she pitched four innings, allowing three runs, one walk, and striking out one Eagle batter.
Amber Poorbaugh pitched two innings in relief, allowing one earned run, one walk, and no strikeouts.
Fernandez and Sepeda went a combined 4 for 7 in game one with two doubles and two singles.. Wayland Baptist got their other three hits in game one on singles from
Reagan Davis,
Madison Martinez, and Berkeley Bradley.
Due to the loss in game one, Wayland Baptist's next game would come against Southwestern Assemblies of God University, a team they took 3 of 4 from in the final Sooner Athletic Conference road series of the regular season.
SAGU opened the scoring in this second game with an RBI single to take an early 1-0 lead over the Pioneers. Wayland Baptist would answer back immediately in the bottom of the 1
st after Fernandez sprinted home on a wild pitch to tie the game up at 1.
Mikayla Carrillo drove in another Pioneer run in the bottom of the 1
st with an RBI single to make it 2-1, WBU. SAGU responded with two more runs of their own in the top of the 2
nd after two RBI singles made it a 3-2 score in favor of the Lions.
The Pioneers took control of the game in the bottom of the 2
nd inning. It started with Martinez ripping a single up the middle, then she came around to score after the Lions made a costly throwing error on an
Abcde Garcia sacrifice bunt, tying the game at 3. After the Pioneers got runners on second and third with one out, Sepeda smacked an RBI single to center that scored both runners, giving the Pioneers a 5-2 lead after two innings of play.
After three scoreless innings, the Lions trimmed their deficit to two runs after a sacrifice fly made it a 5-4 ballgame. The Pioneers would get that run back in the bottom of the 6
th after Rich singled up the middle to score Martinez, giving the Pioneers a 6-4 lead heading to the final inning. A 1-2-3 top of the 7
th inning ended things in game two for the Pioneers as they defeated SAGU 6-4 to advance to the next round of the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament.
Clarissa Rejino got the nod in game two for Wayland Baptist, and she was solid in her outing this afternoon. Rejino threw six innings, allowed four runs, two walks, and a strikeout. Rich threw a scoreless 7
th inning to secure the win in game two.
Sepeda went 1 for 4 with two RBIs, a run scored, and a stolen base. Davis finished 3 for 3 with a double, a walk, a stolen base, and a run scored. Carrillo went 2 for 3 with a run driven in. Martinez went 1 for 2 with a walk and two runs scored.
Wayland Baptist will advance to play the loser of 1-seed Oklahoma City and 4-seed Southwestern Christian tomorrow afternoon in an elimination game. First pitch for tomorrow's game is scheduled for 1:00 PM.
