ADA – The East Central University softball team split the second Great American Conference doubleheader with Northwestern Oklahoma State at Tiger Field.  ECU fell in the opening game of the day 1-3 before rebounding to take a 6-0 victory in the final.

The Tigers (8-11, 5-3 GAC) were led by freshman Ellanee Allison, who tallied a 1.000 batting average in the two games.  She garnered four hits, one run and two RBIs.  Senior Taylor Davis led the team with three RBIs on three hits.
 
Senior Marissa Shaffer earned the shutout victory in game two of the day.  She allowed four hits and struck out three, with just one walk allowed.  Junior Kelbie Crelia started the opening game and struck out six batters, while junior Sydney Dow finished the last two innings, striking out two and allowing no hits.

ECU will now get ready for their next GAC series, March 4-5 when Ouachita Baptist comes to Ada for a four-game series.  Doubleheaders are set for each day, with Friday's (March 4) starting at 1 p.m. and Saturday's (March 5) at noon.

NWOSU 3, East Central 1
The Rangers (2-14, 1-7 GAC) were the first to get on the scoreboard, tallying two runs in the first inning with two walks and an error for the 0-2 advantage.

Defense was strong for both teams, as well as early pitching, with only four hits allowed in the first three innings.  It took until the bottom of the third for the Tigers to get on the scoreboard, cutting the deficit in half (1-2).

Allison led off the inning with a slow rolling single to first and was sent to second when junior Carlee Henderson hit a sacrifice bunt.  Taylor Davis got the runner to third on a groundout to short.  Allison was then able to come home when an errant throw from the catcher got into left field.

NWOSU got the run back in the fourth to push the lead back to two (1-3).

Defense became big again in the final three innings.  Both teams had runners in scoring position at least two of those innings, but the game ended with a 1-3 score.

East Central 6, NWOSU 0
ECU came out with its bats ready in game two and went up 1-0 after the first.  After the first out, senior Autumn Suydam sent a hard shot at the shortstop.  Suydam then stole second and went to third on a pass ball.  It looked like she would get stranded, as the second out was recorded, but senior Laruen Reeves then hit a fly ball to right field that was dropped and sent Suydam across the plate.

The Tigers added to their lead in the second inning to make a 3-0.  Allison earned a one-out single through the right side, but was sent back to the dugout on a fielder's choice from freshman Mariah Ewy.  Taylor Davis then earned the two RBIs with a home run to right center.

ECU made it 5-0 after the next inning, with two more runs.  Freshman Kasey Moore started things with a walk and runners ended up on second on third when Reeves attempted a sacrifice bunt, but reached due to an error.  The first two outs were then recorded, but Allison hit a double to center to score two runs.

Both teams held each other off the scoreboard through the next two innings, but the Tigers added a run in the sixth for a 6-0 advantage.

Sophomore Bre'Anna Davis started the inning with a single to left center and replaced on the base path by junior Megan Birchfield.  Allison sent her to second on a sacrifice bunt.  After a second out, Taylor Davis reached due to an error that allowed the run to score.