MANSFIELD, Texas – The Maryville softball team battled to the end against Oklahoma Baptist but fell 5-4 in the eighth inning on day two of the Lone Star Classic.
 
Originally scheduled to face Midwestern State (Texas), cold temperatures in Mansfield forced several teams to withdraw from the tournament, causing the Saints to shift opponents to OBU.
 
The home runs continued to fly for Maryville as both Jenna Kosnoff and Laila Ruiz went deep. Ruiz was a day removed from breaking the single-game home run record. Cailynn Gdowski also notched a multi-hit game as the Saints tallied nine hits in the contest.

HOW IT HAPPENED
An RBI ground-rule double in the first inning and a solo homer to left field powered Oklahoma Baptist to a 2-0 lead through two frames. The long ball brought the Saints right back into the game, as Kosnoff's second home run of the season and Ruiz's fourth evened the score at 2-2 after three innings.

Mia Maxel took over in the bottom of the third and was dominant from there, tossing three scoreless innings to keep the game locked at 2-2. Maryville grabbed its first lead of the day when Miranda Bondurant ripped a double down the right-field line to make it 3-2.

OBU responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game once again.

The Saints regained the lead in extras as Ruiz scored the ghost runner, Marley Williamson, from second on a double to give Maryville a 4-3 advantage. Oklahoma Baptist, however, refused to go away quietly, using a pair of shallow singles in the bottom of the eighth to walk it off.
 
UP NEXT
Originally scheduled for two games to close out its time in Texas, Maryville will now play one final contest, facing Minnesota State Moorhead at 12:15 p.m.