TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – SWOSU Softball earned a Saturday split at the Tahlequah Softball Festival, picking up its first run-rule victory of the season against Fort Hays State before falling 3-1 to Washburn in the tournament finale.
The Bulldogs wrap up the third and final non-conference tournament of the season and will now turn their attention to Great American Conference play, beginning with a three-game road series at Harding this weekend.
Game One (5 inn.)
SWOSU 12, FHSU 1
SWOSU scored in four straight innings and cruised to a 12-1 run-rule victory in the day's opener. The offensive outburst was paired with a complete-game effort in the circle from
Lily Barfield, who earned the first win of her collegiate career.
Barfield worked around seven hits and three walks, allowing just one run in five innings.
Landry Bayless provided the biggest swing of the game, breaking open the second inning with a two-out grand slam to give SWOSU a 5-0 lead. The Bulldogs added two more in the third before
Riley Lusk joined the home run party with a three-run blast that pushed the margin into double digits.
Bayless added another RBI in the fifth and finished 2-for-3 with five RBI and two runs scored. Lusk drove in four and scored twice.
Taylor McMahon led the lineup with a perfect 3-for-3 performance, adding an RBI and a run scored.
SWOSU finished with 12 hits, a new season high.
Game Two
Washburn 3, SWOSU 1
In a low-scoring finale, SWOSU was unable to generate timely offense, stranding seven runners in a 3-1 loss to Washburn.
The Ichabods took a 2-0 lead in the second inning and added an insurance run in the fourth. SWOSU got on the board in the bottom half of the fourth when
Josie Oakley singled in
Sierra Woods, who had reached with a leadoff walk.
The Bulldogs threatened throughout the final innings but left two runners on in the fourth and fifth, and stranded one runner in each of the sixth and seventh.
Alexis Taylor pitched into the sixth inning before being relieved by
Jaycee McKee. Taylor allowed four hits while walking five and striking out two.
Washburn held a 4-3 edge in hits, including two extra-base hits.
