Clarksville, Ark.-No. 9 East Texas Baptist held off late rallies to complete a four-game American Southwest Conference sweep over the Lady Eagles Saturday.
In game one, East Texas Baptist (18-2, 5-1 ASC) held a 5-0 lead after five, but Ozarks (5-17, 0-8 ASC) closed the gap to 5-1 when Casey Mays drove in Ali Mathis in the sixth. The Lady Eagles then mounted a major comeback in the bottom of the seventh. Colbey Russo led off with a single to center field. But the Lady Tigers forced back-to-back fly outs to put Ozarks into a tough two-out situation. Nonetheless, Ozarks responded by putting another runner on base and an East Texas Baptist error on the play allowed both runners to advance. Kelsey Mefford reached base on an error to keep the inning alive, and Russo crossed the plate to make it 5-2. Mays ripped a single to score Mathis and Kelsey Stephens laced another single to center field to score Mefford. However, with one runner in scoring position, Lady Tigers’ ace Erin Garcia got a groundout to end the game with a 5-4 win.
Mathis and Mays each went 2-for-4. Mays had two RBI.
Tabitha Porter (1-9) took the loss.
East Texas Baptist secured a 10-4 win in game two after scoring four runs in the second and sixth innings.
Ozarks established a 1-0 lead in the first when Stephens knocked in Mefford. The Lady Tigers answered with four runs in the second, but Ozarks closed the gap to 4-3 in the third as Molly Bowman hit a key two-run single to drive in Mefford and Mathis. Leading 5-3, East Texas Baptist scored four runs in the sixth.
Mefford went 2-for-4 at the plate.
Arlisa Arwood (1-3) took the loss as the starter.
Ozarks will travel to Longview, Texas, to face LeTourneau University March 25-26.
Topics: Athletics