OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City forced the 'if necessary' game and will play Missouri Baptist in a winner-take-all Opening Round championship contest at 1 p.m. on Thursday.
 
The Stars defeated Morningside 11-1 and Missouri Baptist 6-5 to set up the showdown at Ann Lacy Stadium.
 
With their back against the wall, OCU got its offense firing for big innings on Wednesday, but the last defensive play of the day is what people were talking about as the stadium emptied.
 
With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the seventh, Missouri Baptist leadoff Jenna Achs came to the plate. Achs ripped a hard ground ball that looked to be heading to right field. OCU gold glove second baseman Iliana Ashford knocked the ball down, picked it up, deftly tagged out the runner from first, and then whipped the ball to first in time to get Achs for a game-ending double play.
 
"It went from 'oh shoot, this could be bad,' to 'oh wow, we just won,'" said OCU Associate Head Coach Bobbi Bridges. "Our middles are really solid. I would put them against anybody in the country."
 
The Stars scored all six of their runs against MBU in the top of the second inning. Emersen Heron got the scoring going with an RBI double and scored herself on a double by Kindalyn Miller. Carlee Mollet added an RBI single before Tiffany Paul creamed a three-run home run to left for a 6-0 lead.
 
As they had done in two previous encounters with OCU, Missouri Baptist battled back with three runs in the third and another in the fourth. The Spartans had made it 6-5 with an unearned run in the seventh before the big play by Ashford.
 
OCU had 11 hits with Paul, Ashford and Analise Rayburn getting two each.
 
Morgandee Sawatzky (4-0) got the win with three innings of relief and Heron picked up her first save of the season.
 
Heron (22-5) also got the five-inning, complete-game win over Morningside, holding the Mustangs to a run on two hits.
 
OCU had 13 hits in that game, led by Paul with three, while Ashford, Tara Hoehner, Heron and Grace Pollon added two each.
 
The Stars scored five runs in the first on RBI singles by Rayburn, Heron and Rally Radacy before Pollon produced a two-run double.
 
OCU tacked on two more in the second on a two-run single by Hoehner.
 
The Stars got the run-rule margin with four runs in the top of the fifth, using an RBI single by Paul, a sacrifice fly by Ashford and a two-run double by Hoehner.