CLAREMORE, Okla. – The Rogers State softball team earned a dramatic split against Oklahoma City Saturday on Senior Day at the Diamond Sports Complex falling 13-4 before a 3-2 win to close the day.
 
The Hillcats could not hold a lead in the opener but rallied back from a two-run deficit in the finale to get the split facing the No. 1 ranked team in NAIA softball, which was looking for its 50th win of 2015.
 
GAME ONE
The teams traded leads through the early innings before the Stars broke through in the opener with a six-run fifth inning for the 13-4 victory.
 
Three-consecutive singles to start the game gave OCU a short-lived advantage, 1-0, as RSU answered with a two-run bottom half of the frame.
 
The Hillcats got back-to-back, one-out singles from Cailin Simpson and Carley Conley before Whitney Hamilton walked to load the bases with two outs. RSU starting pitcher Bailee Kaderka helped her own cause sending a single under the glove of the shortstop that scored both Simpson and Conley putting the Cats in front, 2-1, in the first inning.
 
OCU got a lead-off single in the second that came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Kyndra Holasek to even the score, 2-2. RSU promptly regained its lead scoring a single run in the second as Randye Sharp reached on a one-out bunt single. After reaching third on a throwing error, the sophomore crossed home plate on Simpson's squeeze bunt.
 
Both sides added solo home runs in the third as OCU's Jamie Rateliff hit one to left. Katlin Alexander followed suit for RSU belting her team-leading seventh of the season down the left-field line.
 
The Stars evened the game in the fourth, 4-4, capitalizing on a Hillcat error before breaking the game open with six runs in the fifth. OCU closed the game with four home runs winning the game one 13-4.
 
Kaderka (7-19) was tagged with the loss throwing 4.2 innings having to exit after taking a line drive off the arm. OCU reliever Abby Meador (23-1) pitched the final five innings picking up the win without allowing a run on two hits.
 
GAME TWO
RSU posted three runs in the bottom of the sixth erasing a 2-0 deficit for just its second win in the all-time series dropping the Stars to their third loss of 2015.
 
OCU put one run on the scoreboard in the first against Hillcat starter Jessica Christian posting an unearned run on Jocelin Diaz's bunt single. After RSU stranded three runners on base in the third, the margin doubled as the Stars scored again in the fourth as Rateliff completed the double steal into home.
 
The Cats went down in order facing one of the NAIA's premier pitchers, Meador, in the fifth but battled and found a way to stay alive in the sixth. Simpson led the rally with a single and Alexander drew a one-out walk. Hamilton provided the heroics avoiding the OCU defensive shift against her by sending a two-RBI single into right field to score Simpson and Alexander tying the game, 2-2. Back-to-back errors by the Stars allowed the inning to continue where pinch runner Taylor Sutterfield scored the eventual winning run.
 
Christian (2-5) went the distance for the victory in the circle keeping a powerful OCU offense in check allowing two runs, one earned, on six hits. She retired the Stars in order in the seventh preserving the dramatic win. Meador (23-2) was charged with the complete-game loss giving up three runs, two earned, on four hits.
 
RSU (14-31) closes the 2015 season in front of a home crowd at the Diamond Sports Complex April 28 hosting Southwest Baptist. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. and can be found live on the Hillcat Network at www.rsuhillcats.com/live.