OBU has six straight wins after weekend GAC sweep

ARKADELPHIA — Ouachita Baptist earned its second Great American Conference sweep of the softball season Friday and Saturday to take extra momentum into this week’s conference tournament in Bentonville.

A pair of 6-2 wins on Saturday and two 1-0 wins on Friday gave Ouachita (25-27, 21-23) six consecutive victories, all against conference competition. It is the longest winning streak for the Tigers since the 2011 season.

The sweep also gave the Tigers 25 wins for only fourth time in program history. Ouachita last reached the milestone in 2010 when that year’s team set the program record for wins with 36.

The Tigers locked up the seventh seed in this week’s conference tournament. They will face No. 2 seed Arkansas Tech (39-17, 30-14), ranked No. 5 in the NCAA Division II Central region, at 1 p.m. on Wednesday. The two teams split their regular season series in Conway in March.

Senior left fielder Paige Purifoy started Ouachita off strong in the first game on Saturday with a single down the left field line with one out. Senior catcher Sarah Johnson then singled to left field and senior first baseman Gabby Gonzalez reached base on a bunt to load the bases.

Senior shortstop Madison Crosby roped an RBI single to left field to score Purifoy. Freshman right fielder Tobi Finley later drew a two-out walk for an RBI. Gonzalez gave Ouachita a 3-0 lead on a single up the middle by freshman third baseman Sloane Precure.

Oklahoma Baptist (16-31,

13-26) cut into the Tigers’ 3-0 lead with a solo home run by Bry Flanagan in the top of the second inning. The umpires confirmed the ball hit a tree beyond the left field fence.

Ouachita answered in the bottom half of the inning. Senior center fielder Kelly Powell walked to lead off of the inning and stole second base. Johnson hit a sacrifice fly to center field to extend the Tigers’ lead to 4-1.

The Bison tacked on another run in the top of the fourth inning. The RBI single by Aspen Grimes put Oklahoma Baptist within a pair of runs to Ouachita at 4-2.

Powell laced a one out single to center field to put a runner on for Ouachita in the bottom half of the inning. After a strikeout, Johnson hit a tworun, two-out home run to set the 6-2 final.

Junior Marissa Butler (1211) threw her second complete game of the weekend. She allowed two runs on just five hits in seven innings.

Five Ouachita seniors accounted for nine of the team’s

10 total hits. Powell finished

1-for-3 with a pair of runs, Purifoy went 2-for-4 with a run and Gonzalez completed the game

1-for-3 and a run. Crosby was 3-for-3 with an RBI and Johnson went 2-for3 with a home run, two runs scored and a trio of RBIs.

Oklahoma Baptist took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of Saturday’s second game. Ouachita answered with five runs off five hits in the second inning for a 5-1 lead.

Shelby Savage’s solo home run over the right field wall put the Bison three runs behind at 5-2.

Ouachita added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Sophomore second baseman Natalie Jackson reached base on a leadoff single up the middle. A single by Powell plated Jackson for the

6-2 margin.

Lexi Brooks (3-3) picked up the win, allowing two runs on six hits in three innings. Freshman Sarah Chamberlain allowed three hits in three hits, striking out four batters. Junior Kelsey O’Brien allowed one hit in the final inning.

Timely hitting helped the Tigers sweep the first doubleheader on Friday with a pair of 1-0 wins. Butler and O’Brien

(4-1) each had complete-game shutouts, holding the Bison to nine total hits in the two games.

Ouachita and Oklahoma Baptist combined for 11 hits in the first game. Neither team collected more than two hits in an inning.

Powell singled to right-center field to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning. Jackson moved Powell into scoring position and Finley delivered the game-winning RBI single to left field.

The second game also remained a scoreless tie until the bottom of the sixth inning. Finley reached base on a oneout single. Sophomore Faith Melton reached base with two outs on an error to keep the inning alive.

Finley scored on a bloop single by Purifoy to right field. O’Brien sat the Bison down in order to end the game.