SHAWNEE- The Cavaliers (26-14, 18-10 SAC) began SAC Tournament play with a bang, by winning both of their games on the first day of the tournament. In game one the Cavs took down Bacone College (14-44, 8-20 SAC) by a final score of 8-3, and then they beat Mid-America Christian University (16-37, 7-20 SAC) 7-1.
St. Gregory's got off to a hot start in the first game by scoring four runs in the top of the first inning. The Warriors cut the lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the second, but the Cavs were able to extend their lead to 6-1 in the top of the third inning. Bacone scored another run in the bottom of the third, but again the Cavs answered by scoring one run in the top of the fourth and another in the fifth to take an 8-2 lead. The Warriors score one last run in the seventh, but it was too little to late for the No. 6 seed.
Bryn Houlton (JR/Savanna, Okla.) picked up the win in the circle for the Cavs, by going the first fourn innings of the game before being releieved by Kasady Uhr (SO/Yukon, Okla.).
Ashli Hafford (JR/Blanchard, Okla.) stayed red hot at the dish by going 4-4 with one RBI. After the 4-4 performance in game one, Hafford had gone 9-9 in her last at bats. Jessica Nelson (JR/Lewisville, Texas) also stayed hot at the plate by going 2-5 with two RBI's, and Lexis Young (FR/Mustang, Okla.) also collected two hits in the contest. Crystal Pablo (SO/Gallup, N.M.) and Baylee Hughes (FR/Brighton, Ill.) each collected one hit and two RBI's a piece. Lauren Miller (JR/Blanchard, Okla.) and Sutv Meely (SR/Tecumseh, Okla.) rounded out the Cavs offense with one hit a piece in game one of the SAC Tournament.
In game two, the Cavs grabbed another early lead with two runs in the top of the first inning against the Evangels of MACU. Mid-America Christian got one run back in the bottom of the third, but the Cavaliers counted with four runs of their own in the fourth inning to take a commanding 6-1 lead. The Cavs had full control of the game, and they added one more insurance run in the sixth inning before closing out the win.
Bryn Houlton won her second game of the day, and her fourteenth of the season in the Cavs second game of the day. Houlton went all 7 innings, allowing just the one run while striking out three batters.
Four of the nine Cavalier batters collected two hits in the game, including Hafford. Hafford now has 11 hits in her last 12 at bats, and she's driven in 8 runs in that span. Crystal Pablo went 2-3 with two RBI's, and she joined Hafford in the games home run club. Bryanne Knox (SR/Dickson, Okla.) continued her hot streak at the plate by going 2-3, while Jessica Nelson also added two hits and two RBI's. Sutv Meely and Sammy Leisinger (SR/Little Axe, Okla.) each collected a hit and RBI at the plate for the Cavs. Lauren Miller and Lexis Younger accounted for the Cavaliers two other hits against MACU.
The Cavs will continue their push to repeat as conference champs tomorrow (May 5) as they take on No. 22 USAO at 3 PM at the Ballfields at Firelake. The winner of that game will head to OCU on Saturday to play for the SAC title, and an automatic bid to the national tournament.