TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State cooked up some late inning magic twice to rally past Central Baptist in a non-conference doubleheader on Monday.
The RiverHawks (25-18) hit three homers in the sixth and tallied six runs to beat the Mustangs 8-3 in the opener. Later in the nightcap, NSU made another improbable come from behind win in the bottom of the eighth to score six runs to win 10-8 on a
Kyla Ibarra walk off homer.
Seven homers were blasted out of the park by the RiverHawks with four of them coming in their final frame at the plate.
Sierra Crick put NSU ahead with a two-run homer to left center during the opener. Also leaving the yard during that sixth inning were
Haley Acrey and
Kaleigh Hinkle.
The RiverHawks out-hit Central Baptist 11-to-6 with Acrey having a three hit game.
Gail Young (12-10) tossed a complete game on 110 pitches.
Tied at 4-4 in the nightcap, both teams used the international tiebreaker with a runner being placed on second to start the frame. Central Baptist deflated the RiverHawks at the time with a go-ahead RBI double and then clearing the bases to go up by four runs.
Northeastern State opened the eighth with
Paige Gann placed on second, Acrey singled on her first pitch to put runners on the corners for
Jess Schuler who hit a two run homer in the sixth. On the third pitch, Schuler went yard for the ninth time this season to left center to give NSU shot at winning and now only trailed by a run.
Kelsey Harmon who also hit a two-run homer in the fourth, had a double down the left field line, and represented the tying run. Following a ground out, Harmon now stood at third and with Hinkle at the plate who doubled in the tying run on the second pitch she saw.
Now tied at 8-8, Ibarra headed to the plate with the winning run at second base. Following a ball on the first pitch, the NSU catcher blasted a no-doubt homer to left for the game winner.
Schuler finished the contest with a team season high five RBIs and Acrey had another three hit game;
Sydney Balderrama (12-5) tossed all eight innings for the win.
With the losses to the RiverHawks, Central Baptist falls to 17-16 overall.
Northeastern State will quickly head to Topeka, Kan. and will return to MIAA play to face Washburn (31-8, 15-1 MIAA) for a doubleheader.
