March 19, 2011
ARKADELPHIA- Although you couldn’t have written more contrasting endings, Ouachita Baptist opened up Gulf South Conference play with a 2-0 sweep of Delta State at Sully Anderson Field on Saturday.
After an 8-0 emphatic victory that was fueled by two home runs and five RBI from sophomore Megan Askew in five innings for Game 1, Ouachita (7-10, 2-0 GSC West), decided to change things up and used an RBI single from senior Kristen Rigsbee in the bottom of the eighth inning for a walk-off 1-0 win to defeat Delta State (9-13, 1-5 GSC West).
Not only were the individual performances impressive, the victories were important, as the Lady Tigers kicked off the GSC West Division schedule with a pair of shutout victories, as Ouachita was swept 4-0 in the same series just a season ago.
In Game 1, just as impressive as the offensive production, was the mastery on the mound from Rigsbee (2-5), who held Delta State to just four hits and recorded her second shutout victory of the season. The Frisco native lowered her season ERA to 2.45 with the win.
Askew opened things up in the bottom of the first inning of Game 1, with a solo home run as Ouachita took a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the third, Rigsbee connected on a two-RBI double down the left field line, as junior Alexis Johns and Askew scored for a 3-0 lead.
It was all but over in the bottom of the fourth, as Askew launched a grand slam, and sophomore Bailey Sanders added an RBI single to score Johns for the final margin at 8-0. It was a five-run inning for the Lady Tigers, as batters combined for six hits, as everything seemed to click on all cylinders.
Askew (2-for-3, 5 RBI), along with senior Sarah Bell (2-for-3), Rigsbee (2-for-3, 2 RBI) and freshman Brianne Baley (2-for-2) led the way for 10 team hits for the Lady Tigers on the afternoon.
In Game 2, Delta State stranded 15 runners on base, as Ouachita used a two-pitcher shutout outing to take a dramatic 1-0 win to cap the action on Saturday.
The Lady Tigers used a pair of freshman on the mound to navigate their way through trouble, as starter Rahn House went five innings, allowing six hits and striking out two. Abbi Frakes (1-3) took the victory, as the freshman went three innings in relief, giving up three hits and walking four for the win.
While the story of the game for Ouachita will center around brilliant performances in the clutch from first-year pitchers, Delta State will look back and wonder what might have been. The Lady Statesmen collected nine hits and loaded the bases for three-straight innings from the 5th-7th innings, but couldn’t produce a run in the process.
In the bottom of the eighth, Askew led off with a single, while Johns reached on an error by the second baseman to put a pair of runners on with no outs. Two batters later, Rigsbee singled through the right side, scoring Askew from second base to provide the decisive run that ended the game.
Junior Sara Strassemeyer finished 2-for-3, while the Lady Tigers produced seven hits in the game.
Ouachita returns to Sully Anderson Field at 1 p.m. for a GSC West Division doubleheader.
