OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City (33-3, 22-0) hosts Mid-America Christian (17-16, 15-9) in a four-game Sooner Athletic Conference softball set beginning Thursday at Ann Lacy Stadium.
Originally scheduled as a weekend series, the teams will now play doubleheaders on Thursday at 2 and Friday at noon due to expected rain on the weekend.
OCU Notebook
Previously: Second-ranked Oklahoma City stayed undefeated in the Sooner Athletic Conference and completed a series sweep of Central Christian, 13-4 and 12-0, on Friday. The Stars are 22-0 in the Sooner Athletic Conference and extended their winning streak to 26 games.
Tara Hoehner had five hits, including three home runs, and drove in six in the doubleheader.
The Win Streak: In OCU's current 26-game win streak, the Stars are batting .479 and have a 1.83 team earned run average.
Analise Rayburn is batting .637 with 17 home runs and 66 RBIs,
Tara Hoehner is hitting .610 with nine home runs and 41 RBIs and
Hadley Gibson is hitting .570. Rayburn and Hoehner have 107 RBIs between them in the last 26 games.
Stars at Home: In Ann Lacy Stadium, the Stars are 13-1 this season and batting .443 with a 2.05 earned run average.
Tara Hoehner is hitting .595, followed by
Kaiden Spidell at .588,
Hadley Gibson at .524 and
Analise Rayburn at .514. Rayburn has 10 home runs at home.
SAC at a Glance: The Stars are 22-0 in the league and USAO is second at 22-2. MACU is third at 15-9. After this series with MACU, the Stars go to USAO for four games and finish the regular season at home against fifth-place Southwestern Christian. OCU has clinched a postseason berth.
Hoehner Honor: Tara Hoehner claimed her second weekly Sooner Athletic Conference Player of the Week honor, aiding the Stars to a four-game sweep over Central Christian by going 9-of-14 at the plate for a batting average of .643. Hoehner smashed four home runs during the week and added a double while driving in nine runs and scoring nine times herself. Hoehner wrapped up the week with a 1.571 slugging percentage and an on-base percentage of .643. OCU has won the last six Player of the Week honors (
Tara Hoehner on March 9 and April 6,
Hadley Gibson on March 3, and
Analise Rayburn on March 2, 16 and 23.
Brynlee Alsip also has been Pitcher of the Week three times (Feb. 9 and 23 and March 23).
Individual Streaks: The Stars have four players with active hit streaks of 10 or more games.
Analise Rayburn's streak is a 28, followed by
Tara Hoehner at 17,
Gabby Moreno at 15 and
Hadley Gibson at 10. Hoehner has had at least two hits in each of the last 10 games, including back-to-back four-hit games at Langston and Nelson. Rayburn has reached base safely in the last 31 games while Hoehner, Gibson and Spidell have done the same over the last 26 games.
OCU vs. SAC: In the Stars' 22-0 start to the SAC season, OCU is hitting .490 with a 1.99 earned run average.
Analise Rayburn is batting .646,
Tara Hoehner .625 and
Hadley Gibson .568 against SAC opponents.
Hitting: The Stars have a .432 batting average this season, led by
Tara Hoehner and
Hadley Gibson at .522.
Analise Rayburn is batting .518 with 19 home runs and 78 RBIs. Hoehner has 11 home runs and 49 RBIs. Hoehner, Gibson and Rayburn are fourth, fifth, and sixth in the NAIA in batting average. Rayburn leads in home runs and RBIs and Hoehner is fourth in both of those categories. As a team, OCU leads the NAIA in batting, doubles (104), extra base hits (164), home runs (47) and slugging (.706).
Pitching: OCU has a team earned run average of 1.89, led by
Brynlee Alsip at 1.31.
McKenna Snyder has a 1.41 ERA and
Morgandee Sawatzky is 6-0 on the season.
On the Bases: OCU has 94 stolen bases in 101 attempts, led by
Hadley Gibson with 22.
Phenoms: OCU's five freshmen are doing just fine.
Hadley Gibson (.522),
Kaiden Spidell (.446),
Gabby Moreno (.438),
Peyton Barrow (.394) and
McKenna Snyder (.333) are hitting a combined .457 as a class.
About MACU: The Evangels are 17-16 overall and 15-9 in the Sooner Athletic Conference after winning their last 11 games. MACU is batting .302 as a team, led by Taylor Martinez at .360. The team has a 3.82 team earned run average, led by Emmerson Dickerson at 3.15 and 91 strikeouts in 95.2 innings.
