No. 18 USAO Falls in Opener
CLAREMORE – A four-run first inning put No. 18 the University of Science and Arts’ softball team in too big of a hole in the team’s season opener Monday afternoon at Rogers State as the Drovers fell by scores of 5-2 and 5-3.
USAO’s Sheena Rauniker and Michelle Bauer scored in the fourth and seventh innings, but RSU pitcher Kelli Dunagan protected her four-run lead by giving up just four hits with four strikeouts.
USAO’s Marina Poddubskaya, who pitched for the Russian junior national team this summer, had a solid debut. The transfer from Odessa College gave up just three hits while posting five strikeouts. Poddubskaya did give up two earned runs, but two USAO errors contributed to three unearned runs for RSU.
In Game Two, RSU scored a run in the second, third and fourth innings to take a 3-2 lead. USAO countered with two runs in the top of the fifth, but RSU answered with two of its own in the bottom half.
Dunagan entered the game in the sixth for RSU and closed out the Drovers’ rally allowing only two hits with two strikeouts.
USAO fell to 0-2 on the season while Rogers, a new member to the Sooner Athletic Conference, improved to 4-0. The Drovers will travel to Springfield, Mo., this weekend for the Early Bird Classic hosted by No. 14 Evangel University.
The team is back home on Feb. 27 for a 1 p.m. start against Southern Nazarene.
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