Comets Shoot Past Drovers in First Round

**Author**: Preston Palm, Contributing Writer USAO's softball team went into Tuesday's series with a record of 5-3, visiting the Drovers were the Saints of Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU), who came into the contest with a 12-4 record. The first game of the day started with a bang, USAO drew first blood as Jaclyn Gray hit a two-run homerun in the bottom of the first inning, Gray and Malea McMurtrey's runs gave the Drovers a 2-0 lead going into the second inning. While that was a perfect way to end an inning, the momentum didn't exactly last: - **Second inning**: Drovers went scoreless, Saints scored one (2-1 USAO) - **Third-Fifth innings**: Both teams scoreless The fifth inning is where things started to go south for USAO: - **Top of fifth**: Saints hit a two-run homerun to steal the lead (3-2 OLLU) - **Seventh inning**: Saints added one more run to win 6-2 The Drovers couldn't find their rhythm at the plate, which allowed the Saints to cap off the game with a run in the seventh inning. With Tuesday's first game of the series out of the way, USAO looked to bounce back and even the series. The Drovers also looked to keep a winning record as they dropped to 5-4 after the first game of the day. - **First inning**: Saints scored first from a single, Drovers tied 1-1 - **Second inning**: Saints scored from a single to lead 2-1 - **Third inning**: Saints hit two-run homerun, Drovers scored off error (McMurtrey run) - 4-2 OLLU - **Fourth inning**: Drovers scored twice to tie 4-4 Unfortunately, the Drovers would find themselves trailing the rest of the game from the fifth inning and on: - **Fifth inning**: Saints pulled ahead again - **Sixth inning**: USAO scored once, but OLLU had already scored six more times (total: 10) - **Seventh inning**: OLLU added two more runs to win 12-6 OLLU won the series 2-0, sweeping the Drovers. The Drovers will be on the road with their next set of games at the Hosea Bell Red Dirt Classic 2023 in Oklahoma City: - **Friday, March 3rd**: - **USAO Record**: Started 5-3, ended 5-5 after series - **OLLU Record**: 12-4 coming in - **Game 1 Result**: OLLU 6, USAO 2 - **Game 2 Result**: OLLU 12, USAO 6 - **Series Result**: OLLU sweep (2-0) - **Notable Players**: - Jaclyn Gray (two-run homerun in Game 1) - Malea McMurtrey (multiple runs scored)