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University of Central Oklahoma Athletics

The Official Site of Central Oklahoma University Athletics Central Oklahoma Athletics
Emily Deramus
Emily Deramus
3
Winner Western Wash. WWU 47-12
2
Central Okla. UCO 52-11
Winner
Western Wash. WWU
47-12
3
Final
2
Central Okla. UCO
52-11
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Western Wash. WWU 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 3 10 0
Central Okla. UCO 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 6 1

W: Kong,Kaiana (15-1) L: Ritz, Terin (24-6)

Game Recap: Softball |

Bronchos Eliminated In National Tourney

UCO Falls 3-2 To Western Washington To End Stellar 2025 Season

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – A potent offense that lost its sizzle couldn't come through in a Saturday afternoon drizzle at Frost Stadium as Central Oklahoma was bounced from the NCAA Division II Softball Championship with a second straight low-scoring loss.

The No. 4-ranked Bronchos managed just six hits – three of those coming in one inning – and dropped a heartbreaking 3-2 decision to No. 9 Western Washington to see a fantastic 2025 season come to an end.

UCO entered the week averaging 6.7 runs a game, but scored just eight times in three straight one-run games. The Bronchos opened with a 3-2 win over Pace in Thursday's opener and fell 4-3 to Tampa on Friday before being ousted by the Vikings in finishing 52-11, the second-most wins in school history.

"We ran out steam offensively a little bit," head coach Cody White said. "We were struggling to get our speed on the base paths and that's where we really get going and utilize that speed. We really struggled stringing it together like had been the last three weeks.

"That's softball. It's a difficult game, hitting is hard. It comes and goes and you want it to be with you all the time, but sometimes you have to fight and struggle to make things happen. I felt like we were fighting as hard as we could to make something happen and it just didn't."

UCO appeared like it was on the verge of having an offensive breakout in taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first after escaping a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the top half of the inning.

Kennedy Clark got a two-out rally going by ripping a double to the left-center field gap and Terin Ritz followed with a sharp single to right that scored pinch-runner Sherri Mason for her single-season school-record 80th RBI. Ariah Mitchell made it three hits in a row with a single up the middle, but that's all the damage the Bronchos could do.

Western Washington used three hits and a rare UCO error to score twice in the third to take a 2-1 lead, with the Bronchos tying it in the fourth.

Mitchell – who finished the tournament 6-for-9 at the plate – lined a one-out double to left-center and went to third on Emily Deramus' single through the left side before racing home on a wild pitch.

But UCO had just one hit in the final three innings, that an infield single by Rylee Anglen in the fifth.

It stayed 2-2 until the top of the seventh when the Vikings led off with a double and then scored the game-winning run on a bloop single to short left field that Deramus almost made a diving catch on from her shortstop spot.

UCO went down in order in its final at bat and an amazing season was over.

The Bronchos captured the MIAA regular season and tournament titles before claiming the Central Region crown in earning its fifth Division II Softball Championship Finals appearance and the second in three years.

"To see our season come to an end is hard," White said. "I know only one team gets to end on a win, but that was hard. I've been at UCO for 12 years and this is one team that I'll remember for a long time. They did things the right way and it's hard to end your season like that.

"The last three weeks, going back all the way to the conference tournament, we were playing our best ball. We got here and we still played good ball, but we just didn't play great ball. And when you're on the national stage like this you have to play great."

Jordyn Pipkin started in the circle for the Bronchos and gave up two runs in two innings before giving way to Sydney Ward, who allowed just one hit in three shutout innings in her first appearance since the regular season finale on April 25.

Ritz, who went the distance in UCO's first two games and had earned all nine postseason wins for the Bronchos, came on to open the sixth. She ended up taking the loss in finishing the season 24-6, though it takes away nothing from her status as one of the best players in school history.

It was the final game for five seniors – Ritz, Pipkin, Ward, Layne Smith and Kaylee Bradley.
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