Timely hitting helps Tigers come away with day one sweep of Oklahoma Baptist

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The Ouachita Baptist softball team won a pair of 1-0 games on Friday afternoon to Oklahoma Baptist University.

With the wins on Friday afternoon Ouachita (23-27, 19-23 GAC) all but locked up their spot in the Great American Conference Tournament this coming weekend. The Tigers magic number coming into the four game series was two. Oklahoma Baptist (16-29, 13-24 GAC) needed to win three out of the four games this series in order to go to the GAC Tournament.

Marissa Butler (Plano, Texas) and Kelsey O'Brien (Denton, Texas) each had complete game shutouts for the Tigers pitching staff. The Lone Star State natives held Oklahoma Baptist to just nine total hits in the double header.

Game One: Ouachita 1, Oklahoma Baptist 0

Hits and runs came at a premium in the first game of the double header, both teams combined for 11 hits in the contest. Neither team collected more than two hits in an inning, as the game remained scoreless going into the bottom of the sixth inning.

Each team had multiple opportunities to get on the board, but it was the Tigers who finally clawed their way to a run. Kelly Powell(Flower Mound, Texas) singled to right center to lead off the inning. Natalie Jackson (Mansfield, Texas) sacrificed to move Powell into scoring position. Two batters later and Tobi Finley (Sheridan, Ark.) hit an RBI single to left field.

The Tigers set the Bison down in order in the top of the seventh to come away with the victory.

Finley led Ouachita's offense with a two-hit day at the plate and an RBI.

Game Two: Ouachita 1, Oklahoma Baptist 0

The second game of the afternoon was almost identical of the first game. In both games, each team had opportunities to get on the scoreboard in earlier innings.

Once again, the game went in the bottom of the sixth inning in a scoreless tie. Finley hit a one out single up the middle to give the Tigers hope in the bottom of the inning. A few batters later Faith Melton batted the ball to third base. The ball bounced under the third basemen's mitt for an error as the Tigers stayed alive in the inning with two outs.

Paige Purifoy (Farmington, Ark.) hit a bloop single to right field to score Finely from second base. The Tigers set the Bison down in order to end the game and pick up the day one sweep of Oklahoma Baptist.

Ouachita and Oklahoma Baptist will complete their series tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m.