OKLAHOMA CITY – The Thunderbirds (30-22, 15-9) suffered their first loss of the NAIA Championship Opening Round on Wednesday, falling 16-3 to the tournament hosts Oklahoma City Stars (50-8, 32-4).
The home team did most of their damage late, scoring 11 of their 16 runs in the final two innings after the T-Birds had kept the game relatively close for most of the afternoon. The result means that there will be one more game between the two sides tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. (PT), with a spot in the NAIA World Series on the line.
Kennedy Laird's fourth home run of the season made her the biggest single source of offence on the day for UBC, while
Brielle Donoghue hit 2-4 and scored her team's first run of the game.
The Stars, coming immediately off a big 8-2 win over Grand View in their first game of the day, started out well again in this one. With a runner on, Kaiden Spidell fired a well-placed hit through the gap in left-centre, earning an RBI double to open the scoring in the top of the second.
The hole got a little bit deeper the following inning, when reigning NAIA Player of the Year Analise Rayburn launched a home run to make it a 3-0 ballgame.
Needing a response, the T-Birds did get on the board in their half of the third, after a
Tegan Harnett double put runners on second and third with just one out.
Jessica Heutink then lined the ball into centre field, allowing Donoghue to sprint home on the sacrifice fly.
The Stars answered right back with another run in the fourth, however, and while the T-Birds continued to put pressure on – getting two runners on with no outs in the same inning – they were unable to capitalize and continued to trail entering the final few frames.
Oklahoma City extended their lead further from there, and while Laird lifted a two-run homer over the fence in the left corner in the bottom of the sixth, that marked the final two runs scored by the T-Birds before they recorded their final out.
The Thunderbirds will aim to get back in a groove when they take the field tomorrow in what is set to be one of the biggest games in program history. You can watch live on the
Urban Edge Network at 11:00 a.m. as the T-Birds and Stars battle inside Ann Lacy Stadium for a spot in the World Series.
