Goodwell, Okla. – After not seeing the field for a game in 15 days due to weather, the Oklahoma Panhandle State University softball team reignited its season with a non-conference doubleheader sweep over Bethany College. The Aggies (10-6) topped the Swedes by scores of 4-3 and 9-2.
 
Panhandle State showed a little rust in the opener, as Bethany jumped out to a 3-0 lead after 2 ½ innings. But the Aggies scratched out a run in their half of the third. A one-out bunt single from Jewell Lee got matters going, with Lee eventually advancing to third on a ground out. Jaylinn Reyes then slapped an RBI single to right, making it 3-1.
 
That score stood until the bottom of the fifth, when OPSU posted a crooked number to take the lead. Lee reached on a dropped ball in center and came around to score when the next batter, Karah Ortiz, doubled to center. Jena Konieczka singled to center and Ortiz trotted into third to put runners at the corners.
 
Reyes then executed a perfect bunt single to load the bases for Jordan McEntee. McEntee demonstrated patience at the plate and drew the walk to force home Ortiz, knotting the game at 3-3. With one out, Kayli Grove lifted a deep sacrifice fly ball to right that allowed Konieczka to easily score what proved to be the deciding run, 4-3.
 
Aggies' starter Lindsay Jacobs (4-3) settled down after giving up the three-spot in the third, scattering six hits, while striking out eight Swedes and walking just one. Kaylor Battiest tossed the final 1.2 innings and allowed no hits, facing just one batter over the minimum, to earn save No. 2 this season.
 
Reyes led the Aggies in game one by going 3-for-3 with the bat, driving in one. Lee was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored as the only other Panhandle State player with multiple hits.
 
Game two was slightly akin to the first, as the Swedes tallied with a pair of runs in the top of the first off OPSU hurler Brittany Thomas (1-0). But Thomas also settled in and blanked Bethany the rest of her 4.0 innings of work, registering four strikeouts and three walks.  Panhandle's "super saver" Battiest threw the final three innings to earn save No. 3, striking out four and walking none.
 
In between, Panhandle retook the lead in the bottom of the first when it scored all the runs it would need. All three runs were largely Bethany's own miscues. With bases loaded, Ortiz came home on a wild pitch, then Konieczka crossed the plate on a passed ball, with Reyes taking third. Thomas' RBI single drove in Reyes with the deciding run.
 
But the Aggies were far from finished, adding six more in the third inning. OPSU sent 10 batters to the plate in the frame and produced seven hits, including three doubles from Grove, Thomas and Chrislyn Dovers. Grove and Thomas each drove in a run with their back-to-back two-baggers, while Dovers knocked in two runs with her big hit. Lee added a sacrifice fly that made it 9-2.
 
Thomas not only picked up the win in the circle, but also was 2-for-3 with a run and a pair of RBI with the bat.
 
Panhandle State will next be in action on Thursday and Friday (March 14-15), returning to Sooner Athletic Conference play with a four-game series at Texas Wesleyan University.