Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3 | Box Score 4 Grand Prairie, Texas—Panhandle State Softball brought four wins home from the North Texas Softball Bash, which took place Feb. 10-12.

After a game one loss (3-2) to Colorado Christian on Friday, the Aggies rallied back with four straight wins against four NCAA Division II teams, before falling in their final matchup on Sunday against Texas Woman's University (11-0).

The Aggies held a 1-0 lead through the top of the fourth inning in Friday's contest with CCU. Madison Heathington opened scoring with an RBI single through the left side to bring Salina Galindo home for the Aggies. The Cougars kicked in with two runs in the bottom of the fourth, which Panhandle answered with one run in the top of the sixth; a double by Barbosa to tie the game at 2-2. A scoreless seventh inning sent the game into extra innings and, after and empty eighth, CCU scored on an infield error in the ninth to win the game.

Friday's second pairing saw the Aggies meet with familiar opponents from Texas Permian Basin. The former Heartland Conference team took a 5-2 loss, giving up four runs to Panhandle in the top of the second inning and one in the sixth. A homerun by Heathington was good for two RBI, and an error on the Falcon's pitcher allowed two more Aggie runners to score. UTPB got in two runs in the bottom of the inning on a hit batter that went on to steal second and score on an RBI double; the second run came through on an Aggie fielding error. Panhandle's starting pitcher Emily Worley held the Falcons through five innings with Criselda Luna coming in to close in the sixth. In the top of the sixth inning, Sarah Gregori stepped up with a leadoff double to left field and later scored on an RBI single by Galindo to help clinch the win for the Aggies. Luna earned her first save of the season with the help of a double play in the seventh.

Saturday got off to a good start with Worley notching her fourth career win against Eastern New Mexico. The freshman pitched a complete seven innings and gave up just three hits and three walks to the LSC opponent. With bases loaded and two outs in the top of the first, Barbosa hit a single to center, bringing in the Aggies' first run of the game. In the top of the second, ENM knocked a double for one run to tie the game at 1-1. A big fifth inning left two on base for the Falcons and added five runs for the Aggies. Barbosa blasted a double good for three RBI; then, with bases loaded, Krissy Sardelich waited out the pitch and walked to bring Barbosa home. A groundout by Faith Guzman led Chrislyn Dovers in for the final run of the game.

An exciting game two on Saturday gave Panhandle a boost in confidence with their third straight win over a Lone Star Conference opponent. Tarleton State took a 6-3 lead after four innings, but solid fielding by the Aggie defense held the Texans scoreless through the bottom of the seventh. Ibarra held her own in the circle and marked her third win on a full seven innings of work. The Texans made quick work of the Aggies in their first two bouts at the plate, allowing just two hits and throwing out six on strikes. Patience settled in over the Aggies in the top of the third as the first two batters walked to base on balls and advanced on a groundout. Darcie Wilson's single brought in two RBI, followed up with a single by Barbosa to score Wilson. Down 6-3 going into the fifth the Aggie bats were just warming up. Heathington hit a double to reach base and scored on another Barbosa single in the top of the inning. In the sixth, two fielder's choice plays and an error helped Brooklyne Bolton bring in two runs on a single to right center, tying the Texans at 6-6. Barbosa reached base on her fourth hit of the day (4-4), and pinch runner Danielle Villarreal came across for Barbosa on an RBI single by Dovers to pull ahead for the victory.

The Aggies were put to work in another extra-inning matchup, meeting with the Regis Rangers in game one on Sunday. Ibarra back in the circle, earned a fourth win, splitting the eight-inning contest with starter Emily Worley. Worley allowed zero hits to the Rangers in the first inning and the Aggies came out swinging taking three hits for five runs in the bottom-half of the first. Guzman with a stolen base and a score off Bolton's RBI single started things off, and Barbosa launched a grand slam homerun over center field to score four more for the Aggies. Regis added two runs in the top of the second and two each in the fourth and sixth innings to pull ahead of Panhandle 6-5. It was Barbosa again who edged the Aggies back with a big double to tie the game; Gregori gave her team back the lead adding another run for the Aggies with a single in the same inning. Two errors in the top of the seventh evened the score (7-7) sending a runner home for the Rangers. Three up and three down to open the eighth gave the Aggies the upper hand to bring in the winning run on a sac fly by Dovers in the bottom of the inning.

The final game of the weekend was decided in five innings as Texas Woman's University totaled two runs in the first inning and three runs each in the remaining three innings. The Aggies were allowed only one hit in the game, a leadoff single by Faith Guzman in her first at-bat of the day. Criselda Luna took the loss for Panhandle with six earned runs over two innings; Worley came in for the last two innings allowing one earned run.

For the weekend, Barbosa averaged .692 in hitting, going nine of 13 at the plate and totaling 12 RBI. Bolton and Heathington each finished with three RBI for the tournament. Overall, the Aggies totaled 41 hits over the six-game stretch, including seven doubles and two homeruns. The team tallied 26 RBI and held opponents to a .280 batting average. Ibarra pitched 19 innings with eight earned runs; she dished 13 strikeouts over the weekend. Worley went for 18 total innings and had seven earned runs and one strikeout. Luna had two appearances for four innings of work and six earned runs. Aggie pitchers averaged a 4.61 ERA in the tournament. With a great weekend of play, 12 errors on the Aggies would be the teams' only detraction; their opponents committed a combined five faults in the field.

A winning record of 8-4, the Aggies are off to their best start since head coach Meghan Mulcahy took over the program in 2013. Excited after the strong showing over the weekend, Mulcahy commented, "We played really well as a team this weekend. Overall, I think that we surprised and impressed quite a few people. It's great to see just how far this team has come and how all of the pieces are falling into place." Aggie Nation showed up in full force at Grand Prairie and Mulcahy added, "We would like to thank all of the fans that came out to the tournament; their support helped pull us through several tough games against some very good teams."

Panhandle Softball will resume road play this week with a four-game series in Las Vegas, N.M. against New Mexico Highlands Feb. 18-19. Saturday's doubleheader starts at Noon and Sunday's two-game matchup is set for 11 a.m. Live stats will be offered for all four games with links available online at opsuaggies.com.