BETHANY, Okla. - The Southwestern College softball squad went on a road trip on Saturday to battle Southwestern Christian University (Okla.) in Bethany, Okla. The doubleheader matchups between the Builders and the Eagles ended in favor of the SCU. Game one was a tight tilt that ended in a 6-3 loss. The following battle was a one-sided game that ended in a 14-2 defeat for SC in just five innings. 

Game one started in favor of the Builders as they went up 1-0 in the first inning. Reagan Wright singled to second base to earn her first RBI of the game. Rayven Favors sprinted home to give Southwestern the lead.

In the second inning of play, the Builders could not get a run on the board, whereas SCU grabbed two runs to take the lead. A hit to center field gave Southwestern Christian drove home two runs to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead.

Going into the fifth inning, after two scoreless innings, the Builders had high hopes to bring home their first win of the season. To start things off, the Builders added two more runs onto the scoreboard. An unearned run scored by Rayven Favors on an error by the catcher and another unearned run tallied by Allyson Lange after an error on the shortstop gave the lead back to the Builders at 3-2.

Only moments after, in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Eagles added two more runs to their score to swipe the advantage back. A home run hit to left field helped the Eagles to hop back ahead, 4-3.

An exciting softball matchup ended as SCU scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to make the score a 6-3 final.

Game two was especially difficult for the Southwestern offense, as they only scored two runs. Only four hits in the second game were not enough to compete with SCU, who scored 14 runs off of 8 hits.

SCU scored seven runs in the first, three runs in the second, and four more runs in the fourth inning to put a total of fourteen runs on the board.

Southwestern was only able to reduce the damage as they scored two runs in the top of the fifth inning. R. Favors singled to center field, and Gina Hernandez and A. Lange ran home to score two runs.

R. Wright was responsible for half of Southwestern's six hits in game one, as she went 3-for-3 in the tilt with an RBI. Alexus Johnson grabbed two hits in three at-bats, and the final hit was tallied by Zoe Berger. Natalie Davis was the top performer in game two, as she had a pair of hits in two tries. Favors and Berger were responsible for the only two remaining hits tallied by SC in the loss.

Johnson and Ryleigh Branstetter were the starting hurlers for the Builders on Saturday, as Johnson allowed six earned runs across 5.2 innings in game one. Branstetter had a tough day in the circle, walking seven and allowing three earned runs (seven total) in 0.2 innings of work. Raleigh Kramer was the reliever in each game, totaling 3.2 innings overall with five earned runs (seven total) and eight hits surrendered.

The Builders (0-9) nearly were able to concoct win number one in 2023 in game one against the Eagles, but instead, they are still trying to find their first win of the season. For now, they are preparing to face Mid America Christian University on Thursday, Feb. 23 at 1 p.m. after a pair of scrimmage games against Independence CC on Tuesday, Feb. 21.

--buildersports.com--