GULF SHORES, Ala. – Terin Ritz did it at the plate and in the pitching circle for Central Oklahoma Saturday as the No. 25-ranked Bronchos clipped No. 6 Auburn-Montgomery 4-2 to finish off a two-game sweep on the second day of the Gulf Shores Invitational.
Ritz had a two-run single in the top of the first inning to stake UCO to an early lead and also thew a complete game against the Warhawks, who advanced to the Division II World Series last year. The Bronchos blitzed Spring Hill 9-1 in Saturday's opener.
Central opened the season-opening tournament Friday with a big 9-5 come-from-behind triumph over No. 4 Lenoir-Rhyne after a lengthy rain delay, which forced the cancellation of a game against Union. The Bronchos take on West Florida at 11:45 a.m. Sunday in their finale.
"We played well today against two really good teams," head coach Cody White said. "We came up with some clutch hits in both games and our pitching was good all day. It's been a good two days and hopefully we can finish it off right tomorrow."
Ritz scatted seven hits with one walk and four strikeouts in the win over AUM. UCO managed just three hits, with Ritz's first-inning single the biggest one.
Rylee Lemos was hit by pitch to lead off the game and Rylee Anglen drew a walk before both advanced on Emily Deramus' groundout. The two speedsters scored easily on Ritz's base hit to right field, with Ritz taking second on a play.
The senior standout went to third on a wild pitch and trotted home on Kennedy Clark's sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.
The Warhawks scored once in the bottom of the first and it stayed 3-1 until the fifth when Brooklyn Ryan led off with the first home run of her two-year UCO career. AUM got within 4-2 in the sixth, but Ritz went on to close out the upset.
UCO outhit Spring Hill 11-2 in Saturday's first game and used a five-run fifth-inning outburst to break open a close game. The Bronchos led 2-1 before stringing together five straight hits in the fifth to go ahead 7-1, then scored twice more in the bottom of the sixth to end it.
Lemos, Clark and Kya Watson had two hits apiece to lead the offense. Shelby Beard picked up the pitching win, giving up one run and two hits in the first 4.2 innings before Jordyn Pipkin finished it with 1.1 hitless innings.
The Badgers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, but UCO answered back in the bottom of the frame when Clark drew a one-out walk and Watson followed with a two-run homer to put the Bronchos on top 2-1.
It stayed that way until the fifth when UCO took control.
Ryan walked to start a one-out rally, Lemos was hit by pitch and Anglen drove in the first run with a single. Emily Deramus' triple scored two more, Ritz had an RBI double and Clark pushed the lead to 7-1 with a run-scoring single.
The Bronchos ended the game early in the sixth on another Ritz RBI double and an error.
