TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Late-game rallies propelled Central Oklahoma to a pair of tense wins on the second day of the Cherokee Nation Softball Festival Friday.
The No. 7-ranked Bronchos scored three runs in the sixth inning and one in the eighth to overcome a 6-3 deficit in slipping past Harding 7-6 in the opener before downing Arkansas-Monticello 7-2 behind a five-run seventh inning volley.
UCO, now 10-3 on the season, is scheduled to take on No. 11 Southern Arkansas at 11 a.m. and Southeastern Oklahoma at 1:30 p.m. Saturday to finish the three-day event.
"Our team had tons of fight today," head coach Sam Maples said. "This is a great tournament with a lot of postseason competition, which has been valuable. I love seeing our offense come through against quality pitching."
The Bronchos trailed Harding 6-3 entering the top of the sixth of the first game before benefiting from a big error to pull even.
Brooklyn Lyles walked to lead off and pinch-runner Makenzie Fithian went to second on Rylee Anglen's one-out single through the left side. Fithian scored while Anglen went to third on an error in the outfield that allowed Rylee Lemos to reach second and Brooklyn Ryan followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 6-5.
Haley Gallo drew a two-out walk to keep the inning alive, then Kennedy Clark drove a two-strike pitch through the right side for a clutch RBI single that tied it.
UCO went ahead in the eighth in the first inning of the international tiebreaker. Anglen was placed on second and immediately took third on a wild pitch before racing home on Lemos' sacrifice fly.
The Lady Bison got their placed runner to third with a lead-off sacrifice bunt, but Shelby Beard closed the door with a strikeout and easy groundout to finish off the come-from-behind win.
The Bronchos took a 2-0 lead in the first. Lemos led off with a single and stole second, then Ryan reached on a bunt single before also stealing second. Gallo's sacrifice fly plated Lemos and Ryan made it 2-0 on Jenna Jobe's single to left field.
Harding scored three times in the third to go ahead and UCO tied it in the fourth on Bonnie Childs' single to left field that scored Jobe, who had led off with a double to center. The Lady Bison went up 6-2 in bottom of that inning and it stayed that way until the Bronchos staged their late rally.
Beard came through with a key relief appearance in picking up the pitching win, improving to 4-1. The junior right-hander gave up just two hits and one run with no walks while striking out three in 4.2 innings.
Childs and Jobe had two hits apiece to lead a 10-hit offensive attack.
UCO took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first against the Blossoms when Lemos opened the game with a walk, went to second on Ryan's sacrifice bunt and stole third before trotting home on Gallo's fly ball to deep center field.
Monticello tied it in the bottom of the first, but the Bronchos went back ahead in the second on Lemos' one-out double to left-center that scored Childs, who led off with a double in the gap.
The Blossoms pulled even again in the bottom of the fifth, with UCO escaping a bases-loaded jam to keep it at 2-2, and it stayed that way until the Bronchos took control in the seventh.
Lemos walked to open the inning, Ryan followed with a bunt single and Gallo's bloop RBI single to right put UCO on top. An error on the play allowed Ryan to score and the Bronchos broke it open with consecutive run-scoring hits by Clark, Jobe and Hannah Demoff to make it 7-2.
Clark went 3-for-3 to lead UCO's 12-hit assault while Lemos and Jobe added two hits apiece.
Beard picked up her second win of the day, allowing five hits and two runs. Carleigh Kinnaird came up big in relief after UAM loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth and threw three no-hit innings while fanning five to earn her first career save.
