WICHITA FALLS, Texas – No. 8 Southeastern Oklahoma State rallied for two runs in the eighth inning to upend Midwestern State 6-4 for the second time in as many days Saturday afternoon at Mustangs Park.
The runs spoiled a boisterous rally by the Mustangs, who found themselves down 4-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth.
Freshman second baseman
Alyson Reynolds started the comeback by drilling SOSU starter Marjorie Johnson's first offering over the left-field fence.
The Mustangs took advantage of a pair of SOSU miscues in the sixth inning as
Maranda Bishop scored when
Tabitha Yannetti reached on a throwing error by third baseman Jaclyn Mullaney. Bishop had reached on a lead-off walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on
Jessica Rodriguez's single to left.
Yannetti then pulled MSU within 4-3 as she scored when
Ashley Kuchenski reached on a fielding error by Savage Storm shortstop Bailey Mathes.
The Mustangs were then down to their final out with
Lindsey Voigt on second when Yannetti sent a routine popup to Johnson, but the Southeastern ace dropped the popup allowing Voigt to score the tying, then threw allowing Yannetti to advanced to second with two outs.
But Johnson recovered to fan Reynolds to send the game into extra frames.
But Southeastern rallied for a pair of runs on a Rachel Lynn run-scoring single and a sacrifice fly by Benita Sanchez to come away with the win.
Johnson improved to 20-3 on the season after allowing three runs – two earned – on three hits.
With six strikeouts, she also became the Lone Star Conference all-time single season leader with 286 strikeouts. Johnson, who has now fanned 286 batters, passed Texas A&M-Kingsville's Robyn Jensen and SOSU's Christian Cearley, who struck out 285 in 2004 and 2003, respectively.
MSU starter
Katie Petersen suffered her second-straight loss to fall to 20-6 while allowing six runs – two earned – on 12 hits. She struck out three and walked three.
Rodriguez accounted for two of MSU's four hits, while Yannetti drove in two runs.
Southeastern Oklahoma State improved to 40-7 on the season and 13-2 in the LSC North Division, while Midwestern State fell to 29-20 and 10-9.
-- MSUMustangs.com --