Story by Wyatt Ebersole
OXFORD, Ala -- The #8 seed Butler Softball team could not find enough offense to overcome the #1 seeded Odessa College Wranglers on Wednesday afternoon. With the loss, the Grizzlies now fall into the loser's bracket of the tournament and now every game is a must-win. Odessa advances further into the winner's bracket with the win.
A classic pitching duel ensued early on between Butler starter Emma Koeneke and Odessa starter Rayna Cruikshanks, as neither team scored through the first three innings. Odessa got a great chance at a run in the third inning, but a Wrangler runner overran the third base bag, and was tagged out after a good throw by JaKeyla McDaniel to keep the game scoreless. In the top of the fourth, it was Cady Dickey who would open the scoring with an RBI single to left field that brought Briona Woods home from second base. Odessa responded loudly in the fourth, hitting a grand slam courtesy of Michaella Baker to take a 4-1 lead, and then an RBI single later in the inning gave Odessa a 5-1 lead. The Grizzlies threatened to score in the sixth after drawing back-to-back to lead off the inning, but a flyout and follow-up 6-4-3 double play by Odessa ended the inning half inning for the Grizzlies. Lena Walter turned in her second scoreless inning of relief in the sixth, and Reece Briggs would draw a leadoff walk in the seventh, but the Grizzlies could not find any runs, and fell 5-1 to #1 seed Odessa.
Walter was effective in relief for the Grizzlies. She threw two and a third innings, allowing no runs on three hits with a strikeout.
Dickey and Woods recorded the only hits for the Grizzlies in the game, both coming in the fifth inning that allowed the Grizzlies to score their lone run.
The Grizzlies managed to consistently get base runners on, drawing four walks to go with their two hits, but could not bring them around to score, stranding five base-runners in the game.
Butler Softball will now fight to extend their season tomorrow morning at 10am against either #7 Indian Hills or #15 Gaston.
NOTES: The Grizzlies are 21-17 at the NJCAA World Series since 2011…Butler Softball is now 4-2 in winner's bracket second round games since 2012…The Grizzlies are 0-2 vs Odessa since 2012
