GOODWELL, Okla. — 59 pitches were all
Marin Jacobs needed in Friday's afternoon opener to mow down the Wayland Baptist (26-20, 16-18 SAC) lineup in a complete game shutout, as the Oklahoma Panhandle State softball team (9-39, 7-27) defeated the Pioneers 2-0 before dropping the second game, 10-2.
Jacobs' (7-16) shutout was her third this season and ninth of her Aggie career, as OPSU played nearly flawless defense behind her. Panhandle State committed no errors in the twin bill.
At the plate,
Cassidy Stanhope starred by going 5-for-6 between the doubleheader, driving in half of the team's runs Friday.
Game 1: Through 3 ½ innings, the opener was scoreless, as Jacobs was perfect through three frames and threw just 26 pitches through four.
Jacobs got all the run support required in the bottom of the fourth, when
Jules Leach led off the inning with a walk and stolen base.
Cassidy Stanhope ripped a double past the left fielder to plate Leach for the game-winning hit, and
Summer Marron added a two-out RBI double for an insurance run.
The Pioneers mustered five hits over their final three innings at-bat, but Jacobs and the Aggie defense left them stranded every time. The game ended in the top of the seventh on a groundball to the shortstop Stanhope, who stepped on second base herself for the force out and fired a strike to first base for the double play.
Marron and Vasquez joined Stanhope with multi-hit openers, each collecting two base knocks. On the basepaths, Leach swiped her 25th base of the season, and pinch runner
Liliana Vaquera also stole a base.
Game 2: Wayland Baptist got the bats going early with some sharply hit balls and several hits that were just out of OPSU's reach. By the end of four innings, the middle of the Pioneers' order fueled them to an 8-1 advantage.
The Aggies got on the board in the bottom of the third inning, as Marron was hit by a pitch,
Aaliyah Dang-Gutierrez poked a single the other way, and Vasquez went up the middle to plate Marron.
Marron scored Panhandle State's other run as well following her one-out walk in the fifth inning. She came around to score on Stanhope's two-out, RBI single to right field.
What's up next: OPSU plays its series- and season-closing doubleheader Saturday at 12 noon, which will follow a brief Senior Day ceremony for lone Aggie softball senior
Trinity Higgins at 11:45 a.m.
