Extra-inning rally gives SWOSU softball split

UPDATED STATISTICS»

LAWTON, Okla. (March 25) - Cameron looked to be on its way to a softball series sweep over Lone Star Conference North Division rival Southwestern Oklahoma on Saturday. The Lady Aggies won the first game 2-0 on pitcher Jessica Hutton's third shutout of the season, but SWOSU erupted for four runs in the 10th inning of an extended nightcap contest to earn a split with a 7-5 win.

Still, the Lady Aggies won three of four meetings with the Bulldogs over the weekend to improve to 19-21 overall and 5-7 in LSC North play. Southwestern dipped to 8-23 and 5-7.

Saturday's second contest went to international tie-breaker rules in the 10th inning, with a runner placed on second base to start each frame. The tactic worked, as two teams that combined for five hits but no runs over the previous three innings erupted for six runs and five hits in the final inning.

Southwestern broke a 3-3 tie in the top half of the frame, using a two-RBI single by Whittney Beech and a two-run double by Kristen Scott to jump out to a 7-3 lead. After Megan Young was placed on second to start the Aggie half of the inning, Shelby Davis cut the SWOSU lead in half with a two-run homer to left-center, but Melinda Farrow was thrown out at second three batters later while trying to stretch a single into a double, ending the game.

Cameron had built a 3-0 lead in the game, scoring single runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings. Farrow led off the second with a double and later scored on a wild pitch. The Binger, Okla., senior then doubled in a run in the fourth before the Aggies posted an unearned run on a Davis RBI single in the fifth to build the three-run advantage.

But Southwestern strung together four hits, including two infield singles, in the top of the sixth off Cameron starter Bethany Stefinsky. April Nash's two-run single with two outs tied the score and helped send the game to extra innings.

The offensive effort came in stark contrast to SWOSU's plate performance in Saturday's opener. Hutton recorded her 17th complete game of the season and took a no-hitter into the fourth inning against the Bulldogs. The senior right-hander allowed just three hits in the game and struck out four with no walks as Cameron blanked an opponent for the eighth time this season.

Cameron, which had five hits in the game off Southwestern's Alex Zukerman, scored an unearned run on a Zuckerman throwing error in the second. The Aggies made it a 2-0 game in the fourth, when Jen Morse laced a two-out single to right field to score Allie Sanders.

Stephanie Bour led the Aggies at the plate in Game 1, going 2-for-3. Farrow was 3-for-5 in the nightcap with an RBI and a run scored.

Cameron continues LSC North Division play at home on Tuesday. Coach Brent Shaw's squad will host Central Oklahoma in a doubleheader scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.