by Miranda Raines
The Cameron University Aggie softball team returned to Cameron Field on March 5.
In the first home game of the season with a doubleheader against Truman State, Cameron (9-9, 0-3) lost game one 10-6, but picked up a 10-9 win in game two.
Junior, Cheyenne Brown (4-5) pitched the first game picking up the loss. Sophomore, Kelsy Hebert (2- 2) picked up her second victory of the season on a strikeout with the winning run at the plate during game two.
The Truman Bulldogs (6-9) pulled ahead early in game one, picking up ten runs by the end of the fifth inning, and picking up 14 hits in the game, three homeruns. The Bulldogs took advantage of three Aggie errors to pick up the majority of its runs.
In game two both teams battled until the end, although going in to the final inning the Aggies appeared to have the game under control with a 10-6 lead. But TSU was able to comeback with multiple hits on Hebert. The sophomore pitcher responded with big pitches that included a strikeout that ended the game.
According to Cameron softball head coach Beth Watson the Aggies batting has improved, but in other areas the team was a little off during the game against Truman.
“Our goal was to win both but battling back to at least secure the split was a positive,” Coach Watson said. “They hit the ball really well … our pitchers seemed to be a little off. And, it seemed every mistake we made, they took advantage of it.”
Juniors, Leslie Martini and Drew Wright stood out offensively. Martini was the offensive leader for Cameron during both games going 6-8 with nine RBI and scoring one run. Wright finished 6-8 with five RBI and scored three runs.
Although the team may have fallen behind in some areas, Coach Watson said she felt god about their willingness to keep playing hard.
“If there’s anything to take away from today, it was positive in that we kept after it,” Coach Watson said. “There have been some games where we relinquished the lead and didn’t have any fight in us. It was a great thing to see.”
The next day in Edmond, the Aggie team lost games, 14-6 and 4-3 against University of Central Oklahoma on March 6.
Coach Watson said there were some similarities between the game against Truman State and Central Oklahoma.
“It was pretty well back and forth,” Coach Watson said, “it was a lot like Truman State. They would score and we would come back. We spotted them a couple runs early, after committing an error in the first. You know, we got some key hits, just not enough to finish the game. It was really windy too, it was a factor for both teams.”
The Bronchos (15-3) got off to a quick start scoring half of their runs in game one on the long ball, hitting three homeruns off Cameron’s Brown for seven runs. Using a five-run inning in the home half UCO pulled ahead 14-6, putting the run rule into effect.
The Aggies fought back the entire game, getting to within three with the score 9-6. Heading into the bottom of the sixth junior Leah Trousdale scored her second homerun of the season with a two-run homerun.
In the second game lasting six innings, Hebert pitched and posted her strongest outing of the season so far Coach Watson said.
“We talked before the game about keeping the ball down and getting ground balls to let the defense work,” Coach Watson said. “Our defense as a whole was better in the second game. We had a chance in the last two innings to tie or go ahead. We pushed one run across but left too many runners stranded.”
By the third inning junior, Claren Hulburt put CU on the board tying the game at 1-1. However, the Bronchos struck back going up 4-1.
Heading into the final inning Hulburt brought the score 4-2 with CU trailing. The Aggies pushed on, with Hulburt putting the pressure on the Bronchos by stealing third, and following a strikeout by Dooley, Wright drove in her third RBI with a single.
It was too little too late as the Bronchos were able to strikeout the final two batters to claim a 4-3 victory over the Black and Gold.