Eastern Softball Regional Champs
(Press Release 5-10-05)
Bobb Johnston, Athletics Dept.

The Eastern Lady Mountaineers celebrate their victory in the Region II Softball Tournament at Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City May 8. Eastern defeated Northern Oklahoma 7-6 in the finals to advance to the NJCAA National Tournament in Clermont, FL on May 19, 20 and 21. The Lady Mountaineers' record now stands at 46-20-1. This will be the third trip to the National Tournament for the Wilburton school, all under current coach Andy Mace. Team members include, from front, L-R: Alysha Denomy, Freshman, Saskatoon, Canada; Crystal Burkett, Sophomore, Beggs, OK; Cari Hamilton, Sophomore, Layton, Utah; Bridgett Stewart, Sophomore, Owasso, OK and Brittney Day, Freshman, Inola, OK. Back row: Karla Pittman, Freshman, North Canton, Ohio; Somer Dykes, Sophomore, Owasso, OK; Lesley Boyd, Freshman, Tulsa, OK; Hillary Davis, Freshman, Bristow, OK; Rebecca Buirrea, Sophomore, Glenpool, OK; Rachael Christian, Sophomore, Broken Arrow, OK; Ashley Graham, Freshman, Arlington, Texas and Melissa Simms, Freshman, Del City, OK.

Roger Daltry of the Rock band Queen said it best, "We are the Champions." That is exactly what the Lady Mountaineers of Eastern Oklahoma State College can now say after their victory in the Region II Softball Tournament finals Sunday. Eastern defeated Northern Oklahoma College 7-6 in an exciting game to claim their first Regional Championship since 1998.

Northern beat Northeastern Oklahoma A&M 4-3 in 15 innings in the third place game to advance to the finals. Northern had momentum on their side to start the game against Eastern. Northern's Kendall Hobens hit a solo homerun in the first and Karmen Kauk added a two run homer in the second to stake the Lady Mavericks to a 3-0 lead in the top of the second.

Karla Pittman replaced Hillary Davis in the circle in the stop of the second to halt the attack. Eastern answered with one run in the bottom of the second as Somer Dykes led off with a double and was plated by Rebecca Buirrea.

Northern came back to score two runs in the top of the third to go up 5-1 but Eastern refused to surrender. Brittney Day led off the bottom of the inning with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice by Bridgett Stewart before scoring on a single by Ashley Graham. Eastern had narrowed the lead to 5-2.

Eastern's defense held in the top of the fourth and Buirrea singled to lead off the inning before freshman Lesley Boyd hit a towering shot that not only cleared the temporary fence but nearly the permanent 300' fence in leftfield. Northern shortly thereafter replaced starting pitcher Leslie Oakes with Casey Hobens and managed to stop the oncoming Lady Mountaineers momentarily.

Northern desperately tried to hang on to the momentum, scoring one more run in the top of the fifth to hold a 6-4 lead but their chances were dwindling fast as Eastern refused to let up the assault.

Rachael Christian showed why she is one of the leading hitters in the nation by leading off the bottom of the fifth with a single, followed by a double by Graham driving in Christian. Northern walked Somer Dykes, followed by a groundout before Buirrea flied out to rightfield scoring Graham to tie the game.

In the sixth inning both defenses stiffened with neither team scoring, both sides going down in order.

Karla Pittman gave up only her second walk of the game to lead off the top of the seventh. Melissa Simms snagged a hard line drive on the line at third and doubled the runner off first to remove Northern's last real chance to score. Pittman finessed the final out of the inning by striking out Northern Designated Player Jessica Brooks on three pitches and the stage was set for Eastern's dramatic comeback to be complete.

Christian grounded out to second for the first out. Graham, who went three for four in the game, singled to center on an 0-2 count to reach first. Dykes, who went three for three in the game, followed with a single on the first pitch to left to give Eastern runners at first and second with one out. Melissa Simms came to the plate with renewed confidence after the great defensive play earlier in the inning.

Simms hit a rocket in the hole by the shortstop who got a glove on the ball but could field it clean as Graham charged home from second. "As I rounded third I could see the catcher drop her shoulders and head for the dugout," Graham said. "I knew I could score." Eastern prevailed 7-6 to claim the Regional Championship.

Eastern's only lead of the game came on the final at bat of the game. The Lady Mountaineers ran the table in the tournament. They came in the #5 seed and defeated the #4 seed Western Oklahoma 11-2 on Friday afternoon. That win moved Eastern into a second round game with #1 seed Seminole.

Eastern had only defeated Seminole once this season, the final game of their four game series. Both teams scored one run in the first inning and went into extra innings tied 1-1. Both teams again scored one run in the ninth. Eastern scored in the top of the tenth with Boyd driving in Buirrea with her second double of the game. The defense held in the bottom of the inning to win 3-2 and sending Seminole to the losers bracket where they would fall to NEO 1-0. The Seminole game was the fifth one run game against Seminole this season and Seminole entered the Regional tournament ranked #19 in the country.

Eastern faced off with Northern in the third game with the winner advancing to the finals. Eastern jumped to an early lead 1-0 before Northern bounced back to take a 2-1 lead. The Lady Mountaineers answered immediately with two runs of their own, responding well to the first time in the tournament that they had trailed in a game. Eastern held on for the 3-2 victory.

Other than the 11-2 win over Western, Eastern won three one run games in the tournament. Eastern has won 12 of their last 14 games heading into the National Tournament.

Karla Pittman increased her school record for victories by a freshman and tied the school record for wins by a pitcher as her record now stands at 29-10. The victory in Regional final also tied the team for the second most wins in school history. Last years squad set the record with 49 wins. This season's 46 wins tied the record with the 1998 team, the last Eastern team to advance to the National Tournament.

Head Softball Coach Andy Mace is taking his third team to the Softball National Tournament and fifth team overall to Nationals. Mace led Eastern's baseball team to a Regional Championship in 1976 and Women's basketball to the National Tournament in 1983 before taking the softball program to nationals in 1997 and 1998 where they finished #8 in 1997 and #5 in 1998.