Stars Split With Houston-Victoria

Oklahoma City University edged Houston Victoria 9-8 before falling 9-1 Friday at the Youth Sports Complex.

The split moved the Stars, ranked No. 9 in NAIA softball, to 27-7 on the season.

Angela Lovelady put the Stars on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth with a two-RBI double to right-center field. Emily Krienke followed with a two-run home run to right to give OCU a 4-0 advantage.

Houston-Victoria answered with one run in the bottom of the fourth and two runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Stars' lead to 4-3.

Tori Joyner singled and drove in a run to spark a five-run top of the sixth for the Stars. Kyndra Holasek and LeeAnn Lopez followed with back-to-back two-RBI singles to stretch the OCU lead to 9-3.

OCU withstood a five-run bottom of the sixth from Houston-Victoria and held on to take the 9-8 victory.

Jamie Rateliff tossed 6.2 innings with two strikeouts and improved to 8-0 on the season.

Holasek, Krienke, Lopez and Lovelady drove in two runs apiece to lead the Stars at the dish.

In the second game, Houston-Victoria jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one inning.

Lovelady doubled to right and plated Magean De La Torre in the top of the second to cut the Jaguars' lead to 3-1.

Houston-Victoria added another run in the bottom of the second and struck for five runs in the bottom of the fourth to take the 9-1 victory.

Krienke tossed 3.2 innings and was saddled with the loss to move to 0-1 on the season. Rachel Penner tossed 0.1 innings in relief.

The Stars will return to action in a 4 p.m. doubleheader against Southwestern Christian Tuesday at Ann Lacy Stadium.