SHAWNEE- The Cavaliers (27-14, 18-10 SAC) took down No. 22 USAO (38-16, 21-7 SAC) on Friday, to head to Oklahoma City on Saturday, May 6 to take on Oklahoma City University for the conference tournament championship, and an automatic birth in the national tournament. St. Gregory's beat the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma 2-0 in Friday afternoon at the Ballfields at Firelake.
The Cavs were led by Bryn Houlton (JR/Savanna, Okla.)'s brilliant pitching performace. Houlton went 7 shutout innings, while only allowing two hits and she struck out four batters.
SGU grabbed an early lead in the bottom of the first inning when they scored on Crystal Pablo (SO/Gallup, N.M.) hit a RBI single into center, scoring Sutv Meely (SR/Tecumseh, Okla.). The Cavs added to their lead in the second inning when Meely drove in Baylee Hughes (FR/Brighton, Ill.) on a RBI single to center field. Houlton would shut down the Drovers offense for the entire game, giving the Cavs their third win of the tournament and a birth in the conference championship game.
Sutv Meely led the Cavs at the plate by going 2-2 with one RBI and a run scored. Lexis Young (FR/Mustang, Okla.) also added two hits while having a perfect game at the plate. Crystal Pablo went 1-3 with a RBI single, and Lauren Miller (JR/Blanchard, Okla.) also recorded a hit in the game.
St. Gregory's will attempt to repeat as conference champs on Saturday, at 2 PM at Oklahoma City University. The Cavaliers will look to become the first NAIA team to beat No. 1 Oklahoma City University this year.