EMPORIA, Kansas – Kennedy Clark's clutch fifth inning grand slam propelled Central Oklahoma past Northeastern State 7-4 in the quarterfinals of the MIAA Softball Championship Thursday night.
Clark's big blast broke a 2-2 tie and enabled the No. 12-ranked Bronchos to fend off the pesky RiverHawks in advancing to Friday's semifinals.
Second-seeded UCO, now 42-12 on the season, will take on No. 6 seed Rogers State at 2:30 p.m. Friday. Top-seeded Missouri Southern meets No. 4 seed and host Emporia State in the first semifinal at noon.
The title game is set for 12 p.m. Saturday, with the winner earning the league's automatic berth into tthe NCAA Division II Softball Championship. That 64-team field – with eight teams in eight regions around the country – will be announced Monday morning.
UCO's potent offense had managed just one hit in the first four innings – a leadoff homer by Rylee Lemos in the first – and was locked in a 2-2 tie entering the fifth before finally breaking through.
Sherri Mason started the inning with a double to left, Lemos drew her second straight walk and both advanced on Brooklyn Ryan's one-out sacrifice bunt before Haley Gallo was hit by pitch to load the bases for Clark.
And Clark delivered.
The senior first baseman took a first-pitch ball before depositing the next offering over the left-center field fence at the Trusler Sports Complex for her ninth homer of the season.
"Honestly, I was thinking of my teammates and wanting to do it for them and leaving it all on the field," Clark said of her homer. "I was just thinking 'see ball, hit ball.'
"Seeing all my teammates and knowing they believe in me was the biggest thing. I definitely think it shifted the momentum of the game and helped us finish out the last couple of innings."
NSU came back with two runs in the top of the sixth to make it 6-4, but the Bronchos added an insurance run on Ryan's sacrifice fly in the bottom of that frame and went on to close out the win.
"It was great to get the first one under our belt," head coach Sam Maples said. "I thought our response was fantastic when we gave up two runs early. Rylee Lemos comes up with a solo bomb just kind of answers back and gets our team fired up.
"Then I think we made some adjustments in the circle, made some fantastic defensive plays and obviously Kennedy's grand slam helped us out."
The RiverHawks scored twice in the top of the first, with UCO getting one back in their initial bat when MIAA Player of the Year Lemos smoked the first pitch she saw down the right field line for her 12th homer of the season.
"She (Lemos) is the player of the year for a reason," Maples said. "She's obviously well respected, as clutch as they come in the league and really in the country. Just a phenomenal player and person and we can always count on her to be our sparkplug."
The Bronchos tied it in the third without a hit. Rylee Anglen raced all the way to third after her bunt got thrown away and she scored soon after on a wild pitch to make it 2-2.
It stayed that way until Clark's heroics in the fifth.
Mason had two of UCO's five hits while shortstop Hannah Demoff came up big defensively with eight of the team's 10 assists.
Shelby Beard picked up the pitching win, giving up nine hits and four runs in six innings with six strikeouts and two walks. The junior improved to 21-6 on the season.
Madison Hamilton came in to close out the game in the seventh, giving up a leadoff single before getting a foul out, groundout and strikeout to earn her second save.
