CONROE, Texas (Feb. 5) – Mikayla Rutland smacked a grand slam and Shayleigh Odom added an inside-the-park home run to spark Central Oklahoma to a 7-0 shutout of Texas A&M International Saturday afternoon at the Scrap Yard Sports Complex.

Terin Ritz dominated in her collegiate pitching debut, throwing a three-hitter in going the distance in the circle. The freshman right-hander struck out six and didn't walk a batter.

The No. 20-ranked Bronchos wrapped up a perfect start in the season-opening Arkansas Tech Winter Invitational after romping past Texas Woman's 12-4 in the first game. UCO returns Sunday for games against top-ranked Texas-Tyler and St. Mary's before finishing Monday against No. 16 Southern Arkansas.

"Our players were really excited about getting the season started today and we played pretty well in both games," head coach Cody White said. "We did some good things offensively and our pitching was solid. We've got two big games tomorrow we'll have to be ready for."

UCO grabbed a 3-0 lead in the second and Odom was again the sparkplug.

Ritz led off the inning with a line-drive single off the pitcher, then Odom followed a fly out with a drive down the left-field line. The speedy sophomore flew around the bases for a rare inside-the-park homer that made it 2-0.

Mikalya Rutland kept the inning going with a double to right-center, then went to third on an error before scooting home on Shayla Harper's RBI fielder's choice.

The Bronchos pushed the advantage to 7-0 in the third with one swing of the bat.

Tarin Dubler led off the inning with a single to center field, Ritz had a one-out infield single and Odom was hit by pitch with two outs to load the bases for Rutland. The junior quickly cleared them, belting a long fly ball over the center field wall for the grand slam.

UCO finished with seven hits, getting 2-for-2 performances from Ritz and Rutland.