PORTLAND, Texas – Despite a pair of game one home runs by Kinzie Jones (Norman, Okla./North H.S./West Texas A&M), the Oklahoma Panhandle State University softball team fell short in both of its games on Day 2 of the SCS/NAIA Invitational. The Aggies (3-5) lost to Doane University, 9-6, in their morning game, before being shutout by Huston-Tillotson University, 6-0, in the afternoon contest.
 
In the day's opener versus Doane University (Neb.), the Aggies found themselves down 5-0 after just 1 ½ innings. The Tigers got a three-run homer off of OPSU starter Sarah Conley in the first inning and added two more in the second frame.
 
Panhandle bounced back in its half of the second, plating a pair of runs. Those tallies came via the bat of the junior transfer Jones. With two out and Veronica Ray on first after a single, Jones uncorked her first home run as an Aggie over the centerfield fence. OPSU stranded a pair of runners, as well, after the Jones blast.
 
In the bottom of the third, Panhandle State inched closer. The Aggies took advantage of a pair of Tiger errors to plate two more runs, making it 5-4.
 
Meanwhile, Conley settled down over the next four frames, allowing just one run, to keep the Aggies close at 6-4. OPSU stranded runners on base in each of innings four through six, twice with runners in scoring position.
 
The Tigers would get to Conley again in the seventh on a three-run, inside-the-park, home run that made it 9-4. OPSU cut into that during its final at-bat, as Jones launched her second home run of the game for the 9-6 final score.
 
Conley finished the game with six strikeouts and three walks.
 
Jones was 2-for-4 and had all four runs batted in by the Aggies. Jones also scored twice.
 
Camryn Pryor went 3-for-4 at the plate, with a double, in game one. Kayli Grove was 2-for-3 with a walk.
 
Rebecca Ortiz got her first collegiate start for OPSU in the second game of the day versus Huston-Tillotson. Ortiz went all 6.0 innings in the circle, allowing six runs (five earned) and 10 hits.
 
The Rams scored three in the first, one in the fourth and two in the sixth. The big blow in the first frame – much as in game one - was a three-run home run by HTU.
 
Senior Brissa Rivera went 2-for-3, including a double, as the only Aggie with multiple hits. Konieczka (1-3), Reyes (1-3) and Pryor (1-2) all had singles for OPSU.