POTEAU – Prior to the start of last weeks torrential rain episode, the 11th ranked Northeastern A&M Lady Norse continued their dominance last Tuesday of the Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference with a 5-0 and 7-4 double-header sweep over Carl Albert State College.
Wet grounds forced the cancellation of the NEO twinbill slated last Thursday at Labette College in Parsons, Kan. Coach Eric Iverson's Lady Norse were scheduled to travel to Seminole Saturday for a 2 p.m. conference double-header with Seminole State College. The 26th rated Belles are second in the OCAC with a 9-3 mark and 20-9 overall.
“We can't seem to catch a break where we can play two or three double-headers in a row,” Lady Norse head coach Eric Iverson said. “With this being the last week of the regular season, we've got seven days to get 10 conference games in, so there isn't any margin of error.”
The NJCAA Women's Division I Softball Region 2 Tournament is scheduled to begin a three-day run May 3-5 at the Oklahoma City ASA Hall of Fame Softball Complex.
Entering Saturday's twinbill at Seminole, the Lady Norse lead the conference with a 17-1 record and a 28-7 overall mark.
The 17th ranked Western State College Lady Pioneers are third in the conference with a 16-4 record and are 37-7 on the season. The Lady Pioneers host the Lady Norse for a four-game series on April 26-27 in Altus.
Lexie LaValley delivered three singles to pace the 12-hit Lady Norse attack in the 5-0 shutout against Carl Albert in the first game. Courtni Clark, Megan Higgins and Maddie Stevenson contributed two singles each for the Lady Norse.
Freshman Kaitlin Davis scattered four singles by the Lady Vikings to earn the victory. Davis struck out six without allowing a walk.
With the scored tied 4-4 through seven innings of the second game, the Lady Norse scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning for a 7-4 win over Carl Albert.
Down to their last out in extra innings, the Lady Norse received consecutive singles by Bailey Donathan, LaValley and Clark to fill the bases. Higgins walked scoring Donathan before Stevenson lined a single to left scoring both LaValley and Clark.
Higgins turned in a perfect four-for-four performance at the plate to lead NEO while Stevenson, Donathan, LaValley and Clark added two hits each.
Davis earned the win in relief of Alex Gilley who allowed four runs on five hits in 6.1 innings. Davis gave up two hits in 1.2 innings of relief.