Alva Review-Courier -

MONTICELLO, Ark.– Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers softball split their second half of the four-game series against the University of Arkansas at Monticello Saturday afternoon. The Ranger bats showed extreme improvement from the day before as the Red-and-Black tallied 20 hits on the day. Alexia Taylor earned her first win of the season, while Hannah Howell started the second game. Taylor kept the UAM offense quiet with only five hits while a back-and-forth battle in the second ended in a loss for Alli Willis, her second of the season. Northwestern now sits with a record of 4-15, with a Great American Conference mark of 1-11.

Freshman Hannah Howell tallied the most hits of the team as she went 4-for-6 on the day with four RBI's and one run scored. Senior Alexus Bailey showed off her ability to be patient at the plate and take advantage of any mistakes the UAM pitching staff made. She tallied four walks, two in each game, and went 2-for-4 with four runs, and three RBIs after a three-run home run was sent over left field.

Morgan La Neve and Mesa Gann both tallied three hits apiece as La Neve went 3-for-8 with three RBI's with one run as she hit her fourth homerun of the season. Gann went 3-for-8 with one RBI and one run scored. Brianna Wisby, Abby Detar, and Lindsey McElroy all had two hits apiece while Kelsey Bushey and Kalie Johnson both had one hit.

Game 1

Northwestern came out with a vengeance in the first game as they were able to take first blood in the top half of the second inning. The Rangers scored five runs on three hits. La Neve led the inning off with a single to right field to start the rally. A single from Gann scored the speedy Roberson (pinch ran for La Neve) to take a 1-0 lead. Three walks and a hit-by-pitch were key parts of the inning and a two-run single from Howell extended the lead to 5-0.

The Blossoms answered with a run in the bottom half of the inning on a solo homerun to make the score 5-1. Three more runs came in the bottom of the third to cut the Red-and-Black lead to only one run. Three hits and three stolen bases helped to create the momentum change and make the score 5-4.

The Rangers stopped the bleeding with Taylor showing excellent recovery and quickly shut down the Blossoms in both the fourth and fifth innings to keep the 5-4 lead as she retired eight batters in a row.

A pinch-hit single from Detar started the bats again for the Red-and-Black and allowed them to score four more runs in the top of the sixth inning. A two-run singled from McElroy started the scoring followed quickly by a two-run homerun from Bailey, her second of the season, which gave Northwestern a 9-4 lead. Arkansas-Monticello could not score again, and the Rangers took their first conference win of the season.

Game 2

The Blossoms wanted revenge in the second game and were able to take the. First two runs of the game in the bottom of the first inning. They tallied two runs on two hits and a walk, a double to left center plated both runs and gave the Blossoms an early 2-0 lead. A solo homerun in the bottom of the third inning extended the UAM lead to 3-0 before the Rangers could answer.

In the top of the fourth inning, a lead-off walk from Bailey followed by another given to Howell started the Ranger rally. Gann followed with a single to load the bases for Bushey who dropped one just passed the arms of the second baseman to score two runs and cut the lead to 3-2.

The top of the fifth inning was similar to the fourth and was when the Red-and-Black took their first lead of the game. A single from Johnson, and a walk from Bailey set the plate for the big hitting La Neve who sent one deep over the left field fence to extend the lead. A final single form Bushey scratched another run across the board which made the score 6-3. Arkansas-Monticello quickly answered with their own three-run bomb to tie the game 6-6 through five innings.

Despite the comeback the Red-and-Black refused to give up with and tallied two more runs in the top of the sixth inning. Two hits from Bailey and Howell made the score 8-6. The blossoms refused to give up and earned three runs off two different Ranger pitchers on three hits and an error. This led to a final score of 9-8 as the Blossoms prevented any more scoring from the Northwestern offense.

Northwestern's next game is Friday, March 13th against GAC opponent Henderson State with their first half of the four-game series to be played at 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. back in Alva, Okla.