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Amelya Huggins -
Allie Eicher (10) and Caitlin McCarthy (24) -
Taylor McKittrick -
Hazel Puempel
Halley Randolph blew the game open with one swing.
The senior’s homerun was part of an explosive first inning Sunday night that pushed the Central Oklahoma softball team to a run rule victory against Colorado Christian 9-1 at Broncho Stadium.
UCO (5-0) scored 8 runs in the first inning including Randolph’s 3-run homer.
CCU (0-2) ended the shutout with a 5th-inning home run by Kacie Burger, but the Bronchos shut the door the rest of the inning to end the game.
UCO coach Cody White said this is how the Bronchos want to play.
“It was an exciting game for us,” White said. “It’s the way we want to come out. We want to score first, and we want to play for those big innings. Our hitters are capable of doing that, and it was good to see that coming off our last time we played. We were a lot more hesitant the last time we played here, but this time we came out really strong, really quick.”
Randolph started the season hitting 0-7 but ended her cold streak in a big way. She came to the plate with UCO leading 4-0. The only out at that point had come via a sacrifice bunt. With two runners on, she sent the ball over the centerfield wall to turn a good inning into a great one. The hit also pushed her to 10th on the UCO all-time RBI list.
Randolph said it felt good to end her cold start.
“It was really exciting,” Randolph said. “We’ve been working on a new approach. Coach White’s been working with me on just working everything back up the middle, being simple, letting my hands work. The 13 days off gave us a little motivation to get behind it.”
In the circle, freshman Kylee Lynch picked up her fourth win of the year. She gave up 3 hits and did not allow a run until the fifth inning. She recorded two strike outs in the process.
White said Lynch is a gamer.
“You can count on her to show up every single day,” White said. “She’s consistently like that. That’s the wonderful thing about her. At her age, being a freshman with the COVID redshirt, we can’t wait to see what the future holds for her.”
Randolph finished with 3 RBIs, followed by junior Allie Eicher with 2. Junior Brighton Gilbert, sophomore Amelya Huggins and senior Hazel Puempel each had 1.