Clarksville, Ark.-Heather Roberts delivered the game-winning single to push across the clinching run in the bottom of the seventh as the Lady Eagles defeated LeTourneau University 6-5 in game one of Saturday?s American Southwest Conference double-header.
Roberts’ late inning heroics didn’t come easy as the Lady Eagles (7-5, 2-2 ASC) were down to their last out. But Roberts laced a single to left field to score Shawnee Sorensen from second base. Reagan Littlefield drew a walk to jumpstart the comeback. Brittany Wagnon then advanced Littlefield to second on a sacrifice bunt. Sorensen, who came in to pinch run for Littlefield, went to second after Amber Rollins patiently drew a walk. Roberts fell behind in the count only to come up with a sharp single to complete the comeback.
LeTourneau (5-7, 2-4 ASC) appeared to have the upper hand early on as it scored two runs in the first inning. But Ozarks responded with five runs in the bottom half of the first and held a 5-2 lead into the seventh before the YellowJackets scored three runs in the top half of the inning. In the first frame, Littlefield and Wagnon both drove in two runs on singles to the outfield, and Roberts added an RBI single of her own to give Ozarks a 5-2 lead.
Roberts finished 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and Littlefield went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI. Kelsey Stephens also went 2-for-3.
Rollins (6-3) received the win after tossing a complete game. She had five strikeouts.
In game two, LeTourneau opened the contest with a big first inning scoring seven runs on five hits to take a 15-1 win. With a 10-1 lead after three, LeTourneau added three more runs in the top of the fourth.
Ozarks generated just five hits and gave up 17. Rollins took the loss.
Ozarks will host Hendrix College March 13 in a double-header starting at 2:00 pm. The games can be heard on www.kxio.nu and locally on KXIO 106.9 FM.
Topics: Athletics