No. 12 Olivet Rallies With Three Runs in the Sixth to end Campbellsville’s Season

Softball | Wed, May 19, 2021

Story by: Campbellsville University Athletics

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — A three-run sixth inning doomed Campbellsville University softball in the NAIA Opening Round as the Lady Tigers fell to No. 12 Olivet Nazarene ending their season, 7-4. 
 
The Lady Tigers finished the year with a 41-13 record after winning both the Mid-South Conference regular season and tournament titles and reaching their sixth NAIA Opening Round in program history. 

It just wasn’t meant to be on Wednesday in the finals. Each time the Tigers in purple and gold took a lead, the Lady Tigers rallied to match them but the three-run sixth did Campbellsville in as CU couldn’t find an answer for Emily Blucker (7-0) in the circle. 
 
In the two games she pitched against CU, she allowed only two hits and struck out three batters in 6.1 innings of relief work for Olivet. The Lady Tigers chased Miranda Southall out of the circle after five innings and four runs, but CU couldn’t register enough offense in the final two frames.
 
The Tigers in purple and gold took a 2-0 lead after the first inning of lefty Karson Williams. Campbellsville did answer with two runs in the third after capitalizing off two Olivet errors. 
 
The tie didn’t last long as Olivet regained the lead in the home half of the inning. A two-out single by Sydney Harrison and passed ball scored a pair of runs as ONU led, 4-2, after three. 
 
The Lady Tigers went to Courtney Patterson (1-3) in the circle for the final three innings and she worked out a couple singles in her first frame of work – which was the first time in over a month she’s seen action in the circle. Campbellsville knotted the game at 4-all in the fifth after Mia Aldridge delivered a sac fly and Ryley Whitney hit a bloop single into center field scoring Madison Davis and Ryleigh Oldham respectively. 
 
Patterson allowed a leadoff walk in the fifth but she sat down the middle of the ONU order after that. In the sixth, ONU changed pitchers and CU couldn’t find an answer outside of one hit by Payton Blades – the first batter Blucker saw. 
 
In the home half of the sixth, ONU took its lead for good and didn’t look back. Four hits and a sac fly scored three runs handing the Tigers all the momentum. Blucker ended up sitting CU down 1-2-3 in the seventh.
 
Third-seeded Olivet Nazarene improved to 34-6 and reached its first NAIA World Series in program history after sweeping the Bowling Green bracket with three wins over Top 16 foes. The World Series is being played at South Commons Softball Complex in Columbus, Ga. from May 27-June 2.