DECATUR, Ala. – Oklahoma City University ended its season with a 7-6 loss to Dickinson State (N.D.) on Tuesday in the NAIA Championships semifinals at Wilson Morgan Softball Complex.
The sixth-ranked Stars finished at 53-9 and fourth place in the NAIA Championships. OCU rallied from a 6-1 deficit to tie it in the seventh inning, then Dickinson State scored in the bottom of the inning on Kelly Jahn's single.
In the top of the seventh, Melissa Moore hammered a two-run home run to left field to cut OCU's deficit to 6-3. Erin Slettvet had a base hit before Moore's shot.
Jen Davis added an RBI single to right to score Laurin Hess from third base. Lily LaVelle had another run-scoring hit to center to bring in Kendall Hobens.
With the bases loaded and one out, Mindy Crabaugh hit a fly ball to left field that Nicole Marcoux dropped. Marcoux recovered the ball to throw out LaVelle at third, but Katie Proffitt, running for Davis, reached home plate with the tying run.
OCU took a 1-0 third-inning lead when Hess doubled to left to score Moore. Dickinson State answered with Jody Lantz's RBI double.
Dickinson State scored five runs in the fifth. Dickinson State scored twice off an error, then Danielle Crawford hit a three-run homer.
Moore, a senior from Oklahoma City, was 2-for-4, scored twice and drove in two runs, while Davis, a junior from Muscatine, Iowa, went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Howard, a junior from Strathmore, Alberta, Canada, was 2-for-4, and Hess, a junior from Edmond, Okla., went 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.
LaVelle went the first five innings and allowed six hits and four walks while striking out seven. Ashley Wilburn (24-4) came on to pitch in the sixth and took the loss.
Howard finished with 26 homers, three shy of tying the NAIA single-season individual record set by OCU's Tracey Mosley in 1995.
The Stars pounded 96 homers to break the team NAIA single-season record. OCU had hit 87 in 1995. OCU tied the team record for fielding percentage (.963).
OCU's seniors helped the Stars go 208-36, an .852 winning percentage, with three regular-season Sooner Athletic Conference titles, two SAC tournament crowns and the 2007 NAIA championship.
Bianca Bryant, a senior from Oklahoma City, was an NAIA scholar-athlete winner and ESPN the Magazine academic all-district as a junior.
Crabaugh, a senior from Edmond, Okla., finished with a .382 average, 12 homers and 147 RBIs in her four-year OCU career. She was three-time all-conference, all-NAIA Region VI as a junior, an NAIA scholar-athlete winner and ESPN the Magazine academic all-American. She was ESPN the Magazine academic all-district, first-team all-SAC and the Jim Wade Award winner as OCU's student athlete of the year as a senior.
Moore finished her career with a .340 average, 27 homers and 94 RBIs. She was all-conference as a senior.
Slettvet, a senior from Long Beach, Calif., hit .374 with 38 homers and 165 RBIs in her three years with OCU. Slettvet was two-time all-SAC and all-region and first-team all-American as a junior.
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