Chadron State College softball has another action-packed weekend ahead, this weekend, as it travels to Oklahoma City for the Edmond Regional Festival, hosted by Oklahoma Christian, the University of Central Oklahoma, Southern Nazarene University, and an area high school.
The Eagles are coming off a tough slate of games last weekend in Lubbock, Texas, where they dropped five matchups to three Lone Star Conference teams, Nebraska-Kearney, and Northwest Oklahoma. They look to get back on track this weekend against five new opponents.
CSC opens up the tourney Friday morning at 9 a.m. MT, heading to co-host Southern Nazarene. The Crimson Storm is 1-8 this season after spending opening weekend in Texas and the most recent one in Oklahoma City, where this weekend’s host put on three consecutive weeks of softball events. They played the No. 1-ranked team in Division II, UT-Tyler, on opening weekend and faced two more ranked opponents last week. Their only win is against Fort Hays State in last weekend’s first matchup.
Later that afternoon, another co-host, No. 16 Central Oklahoma, will have the Eagles to their campus. The Bronchos are a more formidable opponent, having lost one game to UT-Tyler and the other by a single run to sit at 7-2. At home last weekend, they swept their four opponents, including SNU, giving up four runs altogether. The Bronchos have three starters who bat at least .400, and three others over .300. Leading pitcher Kylee Lynch has the fourth-lowest ERA in her conference, at 1.87.
On Saturday morning, the Eagles head back to SNU for a neutral-site matchup with Northeastern State. The Riverhawks won their first three games of the season, lost three in a row, and then won their last two to eke out a 5-3 winning record. All eight of their games they’ve played in Arkansas, but they return to their home state of Oklahoma for the first time this season. NSU has three shutouts in its five wins, credited among three different pitchers. Leading hitter Alyssia Crick bats .444.
In the Saturday afternoon contest, CSC has Southeastern Oklahoma at nearby Piedmont High School. Southeasterm, nicknamed the “Savage Storm”, is 7-4 with a win over Northeastern and a loss to co-host No. 15 Oklahoma Christian. OC is one of three ranked opponents Southeastern has faced. The Storm started 2-4 at a Houston event, but rebounded to win all five last weekend in Arkansas. They only allowed six total runs in Arkansas and run-ruled two of their opponents. Southeastern ace Amberlyn Walsworth is fourth in her conference with an ERA of 1.27.
CSC concludes the weekend with Missouri Southern on Sunday morning at UCO. Like Chadron State, the Lions have only played one weekend of games so far. They were in Oklahoma City last weekend where they won a run-rule game, lost the next two, and beat SNU in nine innings. They finished with a loss to co-host OC to fall to 2-3. Their two hottest bats belong to Leighton Withers, who hits .471, and Kara Amos, batting .429. Leading the bullpen is Bailey Lacy with a 3.52 ERA.
The Eagles are 0-1 against SNU, 1-9 versus UCO, 0-1 with Northeastern, and have the only win in the Missouri Southern series. They have not faced Southeastern before.
The two games at SNU will be streamed live on YouTube, while the two at UCO will be streamed, for a fee, on the Lone Star Network. No coverage will be available at the high school.