UCO To Host Five Games In Raising Cane's Festival

Bronchos Ranked 11th In National Rankings

EDMOND - No. 11-ranked Central Oklahoma wraps up a two-week homestand at Gerry Pinkston Stadium with five games over a four-day span in the Raising Cane's Festival.

UCO, 4-4 on the young season, opens against East Central (5-4) at 2 p.m. Thursday, then takes on Arkansas Tech (5-2) at 1 p.m. Friday and Missouri S&T (3-4) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The Bronchos finish with two games Sunday, facing No. 23 Southern Arkansas (6-3) at 12:30 p.m. and Southwestern Oklahoma (2-5) at 5:30.

"We're going to play some good teams," said head coach Cody White, who is 407-150 in his 11th year at the helm. "We've got a really tough schedule this season and will certainly be tested this week, so our girls need to be ready to go.

"I like the way we bounced back last week after a pretty shaky start, but we still have a lot of work to do. It's a long season and we need to keep grinding."

The Bronchos take a nine-day break after this weekend, not returning to action until going to Southern Nazarene for a doubleheader on Feb. 27.

UCO dropped a 5-3 decision at Oklahoma Christian last Thursday to fall to 1-4 on the season before rebounding to sweep three games in the UCO/OC Festival in getting back to .500 on the season.

Junior pitcher Jordyn Pipkin went the distance in two of those games, allowing just seven hits in 14 innings during wins over Oklahoma Baptist (5-2) and Maryville (2-1). She struck out three and walked three.

Sophomore outfielder Rylee Lemos led the offense, hitting .462 (6-for-13) with three stolen bases and she lifted the Bronchos to the win over Maryville with a run-scoring double in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Junior pitcher/first baseman Terin Ritz hit .455 (5-for-11) with two doubles, a home run and four runs batted in for the week, while senior outfielder Jacee Minter batted .400 with two doubles, a homer and six RBI.

Minter has a team-best .429 average for the season, which includes two doubles, two homers and 10 RBI. Lemos is batting .400 and already has seven steals.

Only two other regulars are above .300 – senior outfielder Shayleigh Odom (.313 with three doubles) and Ritz (.304 with three doubles, two homers and nine RBI).

Pipkin is 2-1 on the season with a 2.52 earned run average to top the pitching staff. She's allowed 16 hits in a team-high 25 innings and opponents are batting just .184 against her.

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Players Mentioned

#8 Rylee Lemos: OF; 5' 6"; Sophomore; L/R

#12 Jacee Minter: OF; 5' 6"; Senior; R/R

#6 Shayleigh Odom: OF; 5' 1"; Senior; L/R

#15 Jordyn Pipkin: P; 5' 6"; Junior; R/R

#99 Terin Ritz: P/1B; 5' 8"; Junior; R/R

Players Mentioned

#8 Rylee Lemos
: 5' 6"; Sophomore; L/R
: OF

#12 Jacee Minter
: 5' 6"; Senior; R/R
: OF

#6 Shayleigh Odom
: 5' 1"; Senior; L/R
: OF

#15 Jordyn Pipkin
: 5' 6"; Junior; R/R
: P

#99 Terin Ritz
: 5' 8"; Junior; R/R
: P/1B