SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Drury softball earned its first doubleheader sweep of the season Tuesday afternoon against Ouachita Baptist to improve to 14-15 before strong pitching and a Reece Anderson walk-off.
 
GAME ONE – Drury 2, Ouachita Baptist 1
Drury struck first in game one in the bottom of the second. Three straight one-out singles from Avery Budde, Reece Anderson, and Kaley Adzick loaded the bases for Gabrielle Bax. The first pitch she saw, she drove to center field for a sac fly to score Budde. Drury was unable to score another run with two outs.
 
Jordyn Foley got the start for Drury in the circle. Foley allowed just two hits in the first six innings, one in the first inning and the other in the sixth. The hit from Remington Adams in the sixth was quickly erased by an inning-ending double play.
 
Trailing 1-0, Ouachita Baptist was down to its final three outs. A lead-off hit by pitch followed by an error in the field put runners on first and second for the Tigers. Following a fielder's choice, Alaina Lyle dug in with one out and runners still on first and second. Lyle would see a first-pitch ball before singling out the middle to score Emily Reed. Foley was able to avoid any more damage to send Drury to the bottom of the seventh tied at one.
 
Reece Anderson led off the inning. She had one hit entering the inning, a single in the second inning. Anderson saw four pitches before, on the fifth pitch, she smashed over the wall in right centerfield to give Drury the walk-off winner, 2-1.
 
GAME ONE NOTES

• Reece Anderson was the only Panther with at least two hits.
• Drury had five others with at least one hit.
• Ouachita Baptist had four hits, all from Remington Adams and Alaina Lyle, who each had two hits.
• Claire Nelson caught Adams stealing, for the sixth runner she has thrown out.
• Jordyn Foley (7-5) threw a complete game in the win. She struck out five batters, now just two away from 100 career strikeouts.
• Catie Amador was the losing pitcher; she fell to 5-9 on the season.
• Drury only had one lead-off hitter reach base in the game, that was Reece Anderson during her walk-off home run.
• With runners on, the Panthers were 2-for-6 as a team. Ouachita Baptist was 1-for-9 in the same situations.
• Anderson's walk-off is the first walk-off home run for Drury since Taylor Hartsell hit a walk-off run-rule grand slam against Missouri Southern in the 2024 season.
• Drury is now 6-2 in game one of doubleheaders.
• In one-run games, the Panthers are 7-5 this season.

 
GAME TWO – Drury 5, Ouachita Baptist 2
Avery Budde started game two, her first pitching appearance since February 6. She was perfect through four innings, not allowing a Tiger to reach base until Olivia See had a pinch-hit single in the top of the fifth.
 
Before the See single in the fifth, Drury scored two in the bottom of the fourth for the game's first runs. The Panthers had only two hits leading to the fourth. Haley Bryant's one-out double advanced Isabel Ervin to third after she was on after being hit by a pitch. Ervin and Bryant would both score the following pitch on an Avery Budde two RBI single to left field.
 
In the top of the fifth, Ouachita would end Budde's perfect game with a lead-off single. Olivia See would advance to second on a fielder's choice and an error that allowed Jessalyn Ahrens to also reach. The Tigers' first run of the inning scored on a throwing error on a bunt laid down by Ryleigh Stinson. The Tigers made the decision to lay another bunt down, and it worked in their favor as Jessalyn Ahrens scored. Drury would record another error in the inning but would avoid disaster, allowing only two runs.
 
Drury responded with the two-spot from Ouachita with three runs of their own. It started with a Gabrielle Bax double followed by an Emma Niemczyk single for the first run. Isabel Ervin would end up on second and Niemczyk on third after an error from Ouachita in the field. Niemczyk would cross the plate on a groundout from Claire Nelson. Ervin scored the third run of the inning from an Avery Budde infield single.
 
With a 5-2 advantage, Drury went to Natalie Wilks for a six-out save opportunity. Wilks walked the lead-off hitter and gave up a single before she got Ouachita to strike out twice and ground out to end the sixth.
 
Wilks would shut down the Tigers in the top of the seventh, giving the Panthers the 5-2 win.
 
GAME TWO NOTES

• Avery Budde and Landry Cochran each had two hits, responsible for four of Drury's seven hits.
• Drury's pitching and defense held Ouachita Baptist to three hits.
• Budde (1-2) picked up her first win of the season. Two runs scored while she pitched, none of them earned. Budde struck out two batters.
• Budde allowed only one hit in the win.
• Natalie Wilks recorded the six-out save, her second career save. Wilks struck out three batters in her two innings of work.
• Alaina Lyle allowed two runs to score in her start for the Tigers. Hannah Hunter and Ryleigh Stinson each allowed a run in relief.
• Four of Drury's seven hits came with runners on base.
• Ouachita Baptist did not have a single hit with a runner in scoring position in game two.
• The win was Drury's third win of the season in the second game of a doubleheader.
• It was the first sweep that the Panthers have had this season.
• Drury finished the day with a 12-2 record in games they led after six innings and 11-3 in games they led after the fifth inning.
• The doubleheader was the first two games of an eight-game home stand.

 
UP NEXT
The Panthers' home stand continues Saturday (March 28) against Illinois Springfield, starting at noon.
 
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