UCO Sweeps Loper Softball

EDMOND, OK – Wichita State transfer Jordyn Pipkin threw 5.1 innings of no-hit ball and junior cleanup hitter Jacee Minter had a big day at the plate to help fifth-ranked Central Oklahoma sweep a doubleheader from Nebraska-Kearney, 5-0 and 4-2, in Edmond.

The Bronchos (37-6, 17-3) push its win streak to six in a row and also improves to 5-3 against the Lopers (15-29, 6-14) over the last three years.

Pipkin (16-3), a sophomore right hander, needed 96 pitches to record her fourth shutout of the spring. She only allowed a walk in the second and back-to-back singles in the sixth. At the plate, the ‘Chos had 10 hits with most of the damage coming in the first. They scored three times thanks to a run scoring double and a two-run triple. The two, three and four-hole hitters went a combined 7 for 11 with four runs and three RBI’s. That trio included Minter.

For the Lopers, California freshman Faith Gaynor (6-11) bounced back to blank UCO over the next three innings with leadoff hitter and shortstop Sydney Thomason (Ripon, Calif.) and Lincoln sophomore right fielder Lyndsey Roth having the hits. 

Sophomore Terin Ritz (14-1) threw a complete game five-hitter in the nightcap. She struck out 10, walked just one and worked around four extra base hits. Thomason (2 for 2, RBI) had two doubles, Roth (1 for 3, one run) smacked a triple to left center and Blair senior catcher Katie Gosker (1 for 3) belted her 30th career homer.

Thomason (7-7) allowed only two earned in five full innings with Colorado redshirt junior Stacy Bott tossing a scoreless sixth. UCO tallied single runs in four straight innings with Minter (2 for 3, one run & one RBI) and Ritz (2 for 3, two runs) hitting solo jacks.

UNK heads to Newman on Saturday afternoon. The Jets (15-35, 3-17) were swept today by Fort Hays State.