#2 Softball 5/15/2013 10:43:00 PM

OCU blasts Bellevue 9-0 for Opening Round title

Stars take on Cal State San Marcos at 4 p.m. May 24 in NAIA Championships

OCU celebrates winning the inaugural NAIA Softball Championship Opening Round Oklahoma City Bracket.

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University outlasted Bellevue (Neb.) 9-0 to capture the inaugural NAIA Softball Championship Opening Round Oklahoma City Bracket on Wednesday at Ann Lacy Stadium.
Bellevue forced the if-necessary game with a 5-4, 13-inning victory over the fourth-ranked Stars. OCU (50-13) advanced to the NAIA Championships on May 24-30 at South Commons Softball Complex in Columbus, Ga.
The Stars face Cal State San Marcos at 4 p.m. Friday, May 24 in Columbus, Ga. OCU made the NAIA Championships for the 22nd consecutive year and 27th time overall in the 33 years of the event. OCU reached 50 wins for the 16th time in Phil McSpadden's 26 years as coach.
OCU and Bellevue endured three hours worth of delays to decide the tournament winner. Rain came with the game tied 1-1 in the fifth inning of the first contest, holding up the first game for two hours and 45 minutes.
The second game was played in a steady rain. Grounds crew added drying material to the field for a 15-minute delay in the fourth.
In the second game, the Stars piled up five runs in the third inning. Drew Wright laced a double past the shortstop to score OCU's first two runs. Jamie Rateliff pounded a three-run home run over the scoreboard in left field with two out in the third.
Rateliff, a sophomore from Mustang, Okla., added an RBI single in the fifth. OCU put away the triumph with three runs in the sixth.
Tori Joyner scored on a wild pitch to give OCU a 7-0 advantage. Rateliff brought home Kyndra Holasek on a fielder's choice grounder to third base. Emily Krienke got hit by pitch with the bases loaded for a 9-0 Stars lead.
Danielle Fox sewed up her first complete-game shutout as a Star. Fox struck out eight while scattering two hits and four walks in six innings. Fox improved to 1-1 on the year. Bellevue used all three of its pitchers as Amanda Neumann took the loss.
Rateliff went 2-for-4, scored a run and drove in five runs, while Wright, a senior from Moore, Okla., was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Joyner, a senior from Mustang, Okla., was 2-for-4 with two runs scored, and Magean De La Torre, a senior from Plano, Texas, was 2-for-4 with two run scored. Holasek, a freshman from Mustang, Okla., went 2-for-4 with a run scored. LeeAnn Lopez, a senior from Grand Prairie, Texas, drew four walks and scored a run. Rateliff hit her 11th homer of 2013.
In the first game, Neumann tied the game 4-4 with her second homer of the game in the bottom of the 13th. Kelsie Bridgeford followed Neumann with a homer of her own to win the game.
Angela Lovelady nailed an RBI double off the wall in left to put OCU in front 4-3 in the top of the 13th.
De La Torre gave OCU a 3-2 edge in the top of the 10th on a sacrifice fly, but Bellevue answered in the bottom of the inning. Bridgeford socked an RBI single to center with the bases full to tie the game again. De La Torre threw out Shelby Kindelin at home plate trying to score from second base on Bridgeford's hit to end the inning.
Kindelin was also thrown out at home by Wright with an assist from Shelbi Legg on a Bridgeford single in the bottom of the sixth.
Bellevue's Taylor Anderson homered in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings. Lopez hammered a 1-2 pitch over the left-field wall to provide the Stars a 2-1 lead in the sixth.
Wright belted a solo blast to left to tie the game 1-1 and put OCU on the scoreboard. Neumann hit her first homer of the game in the third to give Bellevue a third-inning 1-0 lead.
Wright went 2-for-6 with her 12th homer of the year, while Lopez went yard for the 20th time this year.
Rateliff (23-4) struck out 11 in 12 innings, while Neumann (16-3) fanned eight in 13 innings. Rateliff threw 240 pitches, while Neumann rang up 181. Neumann started the second game and tossed another 50 pitches.

NAIA Championship Opening Round
Oklahoma City Bracket
At Oklahoma City
Ann Lacy Stadium
Monday's Results
Bellevue (Neb.) 3, Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 2
Oklahoma City 6, Hastings (Neb.) 1
Tuesday's Results
Oklahoma City 7, Bellevue 2
Freed-Hardeman 9, Hastings 2, Hastings eliminated
Bellevue 9, Freed-Hardeman 2, Freed-Hardeman eliminated
Wednesday's Results
Bellevue 5, Oklahoma City 4, 13 inn.
Oklahoma City 9, Bellevue 0, championship

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