ALTUS - Closing out the regular season on the road, Northeastern A&M's No. 11 ranked Lady Norse split a double-header Friday with Western State College on Lady Pioneer Field.


With the split coach Eric Iverson's two-time defending champions enter the Women's Division 1 Region 2 Tournament scheduled for May 3-5 at the ASA Hall of Fame Softball Complex in Oklahoma City as the No. 1 seed. The Lady Norse are 36-9 on the season. NEO won the Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season title with a 24-2 record.
Fourth-year head coach Mike McBrayer has guided the No. 13 rated Western Lady Pioneers to the No. 2 seed in the regionals with a 44-8 season record and a 21-5 mark in the OCAC.
Erupting for four runs in the top of the first inning of the first game Friday, the escaped with a 5-4 victory over the Lady Pioneers.
Consecutive singles by Bailey Donathan, Courtni Clark and Megan Higgins loaded the bases for NEO. After Maddie Stevenson reached on a fielder's choice scoring Donathan, singles by Alexis Riley, Shanna Johnson and Emily Walters gave NEO a 4-0 cushion.
Ashley Rutledge led off with a single to right field for the Pioneers. Two batters later, Emery Fox connected for her 21st home run of the year to cut the deficit in half.
With one out in the top of the fifth inning, singles by Donathan, Lexie LaValley and Clark increased NEO's lead to a 5-2 margin.
Still trailing by three going into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Pioneers went to work with their final three outs.  Emily Jones led the frame off with a solo home run to left-center field. Bailee Kaderka followed with a single to right field. Two batters later with one out, Rutledge delivered a single to center field to advance pinch runner Alyx Ethington to second. Later in the inning with two outs, the Pioneers pulled within one off a RBI single from Fox.
Donathan, LaValley and Clark each had two hits to pace the Lady Norse 10-hit offense.
Kaitlin Davis (22-3) struck out 11 and walked one to earn the complete-game victory for NEO.
Kelsey Watson (24-4) got the loss throwing a complete game for Western allowing only one earned run while striking out six.  The Pioneer got multiple hits from Emery Fox, Bailee Kaderka, and Ashley Rutledge in the contest.
NEO got on the board again in game two with two first inning runs off Western pitcher Bailee Kaderka. Singles by LaValley, Clark and Riley gave the Lady Norse a brief lead.
The Pioneers answered in the bottom of the inning.  Maggie McBrayer drew a one out walk to reach base. Later in the inning, Malori Moss and Jones got back to back walks to load the bases with two outs. Kaderka came through with a two RBI single to tie the game at two. Katy Fletcher was then hit by a pitch to load the bases once again.  Rutledge followed with an infield single to score Jones for the final run of the inning and give Western a 3-2 lead.
The Lady Norse tied the game with one run in the top of the third. After Clark reached on an error by Fox at first base, Higgins doubled to left-center scoring Clark for a 3-3 tie.
Western loaded the bases with back to back to back one out singles from Fletcher, Rutledge, and Haylee Beck in the bottom of the third. Fox was then hit by a pitch followed by a McBrayer walk to give the Pioneers two runs in the inning for a 5-3 lead.
The lady Pioneers added four more in the bottom of the fifth. Beck led off with a solo home run just inside the left field foul pole. With one out, McBrayer reached on an error then advance to second on a Bailey Spencer ground ball that resulted in no out on the play. McBrayer later scored on a passed ball to push the lead RBI single to center field to give Western a six run lead. 
Higgins collected three of the Lady Norse 11 hits while LaValley added two.
Freshman Delaney Grey of Oologah relieved NEO starter Alex Gilley in the first inning and allowed three earned runs on 10 hits in 5.1 innings.
Kaderka (18-4) got the win working all seven innings allowing only two earned runs.  Kaderka also led the way offensively for Western with three hits and four RBI. Rutledge added three hits.