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University of Central Oklahoma Athletics

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Team
4
Winner Central Oklahoma UCO 50-6
1
Harding HU 46-14
Winner
Central Oklahoma UCO
50-6
4
Final
1
Harding HU
46-14
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Central Oklahoma UCO 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 4 6 1
Harding HU 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 0

W: Ritz, Terin (24-1) L: Lily Tanski (14-6)

Game Recap: Softball |

Bronchos Top Harding For Regional I Title

EDMOND (May 13) – Rylee Lemos has provided a major spark for Central Oklahoma at the top of the batting order this season, but hitting home runs isn't how she's done it.
 
Until Saturday that is.
 
The left-handed hitting freshman smashed a line drive over the right field wall to lead off the first inning for just her second homer of the season – the other coming on Feb. 17 – and the Bronchos went on to topple Harding 4-1 to capture the NCAA Division II Central Regional I Tournament title at Gerry Pinkston Stadium.

No. 4-ranked UCO won for the 19th straight time and improved to 50-6 on the season, the second-most wins in program history. The Bronchos will host Southern Arkansas in the best-of-three Central Super Regional Thursday and Friday.
 
"Rylee's home run really set the tone for the game," said head coach Cody White, who is now 399-143 in his 10th year at the helm. "That gave our team confidence and everybody got their adrenaline pumping. We knew it was a championship atmosphere and that definitely set the tone."
 
UCO batted first as the visiting team after losing a pre-game coin flip and it took four pitches for the Bronchos to take the lead for good.
 
Lemos watched two balls and a strike on the opening at bat, before launching the next offering.
 
"I was ahead of the count and was just looking for a pitch I could drive," Lemos said. "That's what I got, high and in, and I went with it. It was amazing."
 
Terin Ritz went the distance in the pitching circle for the Bronchos and felt the game was all but over once Lemos' game-opening shot cleared the fence.
 
"For me, as soon as she hit that ball I said, 'we have this game,", Ritz said. "We had momentum from the very start, from the first inning to the last pitch. And her setting the tone made the whole game."
 
The early 1-0 lead held up until the fourth, when the Bronchos pushed across three runs on four hits to take control.
 
Amelya Huggins got things going with a one-out infield single, Jacee Minter followed with a base hit to left field and Shayla Harper walked to load the bases.
 
Ritz then helped her own cause, ripping a two-run single off the wall in left field, and Shayleigh Odom's two-out RBI double made it 4-0.
 
Harding's lone run came on a leadoff solo homer in the bottom of the seventh, but Ritz quickly put the next three batters down to close out the game.
 
Ritz scattered four hits while striking out three and walking one, improving to 24-1 on the season. She gave up eight hits and two runs with two walks while pitching all 22 innings in UCO's three tournament wins.
 
The Bronchos made several stellar defensive players in the contest. Minter made a diving catch on a foul ball in left field, Harper had two outstanding plays at third base and Mikayla Rutland had a leaping over-the-shoulder grab in short right field from her second field spot.

Now it's on to the Central Super Regional for the third time in five years, with the winner of that advancing to the Division II World Series. The Bronchos fell to Augustana in 2019 when they hosted and at Rogers State last year, with both those teams going on to win the national championship.

"The team wants to stay on the mission that they've been on all year," White said. "They've been very good at staying on the initiative that we set forward and so we're excited. We're having fun, we're trying to stay who we are and stay authentic to who we are. And if we do that we feel like have a really good chance at things.
 
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