World Series Bound!

5/12/2012 6:45:00 PM

Devyn Frazier

Box Score

SAN ANGELO, Texas (May 12) – Central Oklahoma's season started in this city back on Feb. 11 with two losses to Angelo State, but the No. 2-ranked Bronchos made sure it didn't end here Saturday afternoon.

UCO shook off a 12-3 first-game run-rule loss to the Rambelles with an 11-3 rout in the “if necessary” game to capture the NCAA Division II South Central Super Regional title and advance to next week's eight-team Division II World Series.

The Bronchos, now 44-7, will meet Southeast Region champion Flagler (N.C.) in a first-round game Wednesday evening in Louisville, Ky. UCO also won the South Central Region in qualifying for the World Series in 2006, going 1-2 that year.

“It's an amazing feeling,” said UCO head coach Genny Stidham, whose team opened the season with 14-6 and 8-1 losses to ASU on that cold February day. “This team just continues to amaze me with their ability to put bad games behind them and focus on the task at hand. We got it handed to us in the first game, but we didn't get rattled and just played a great game when everything was on the line.”

UCO took the lead in the best-of-three series with a 1-0 win Friday night, but the No. 8-rated Rambelles overcame an early 3-0 deficit to win Saturday's opener 12-3 and force the deciding game.

The Bronchos never trailed, though ASU turned a 3-0 deficit after three innings into a 3-3 tie after its turn at bat in the top of the fifth.

UCO answered right back in its half of the inning, breaking the deadlock with a three-run outburst and then ending the game on the eight-run rule with a five-run eruption in the sixth.

Freshman Devyn Frazier had the big hit in both innings, driving in two runs with a bloop single in the fifth and then ripping a two-run double in the sixth that gave the Bronchos the eight-run margin and resulted in the UCO dugout rushing the field in celebration.

Megan Whitmire snapped the 3-3 tie with a RBI single to center field in the fifth before Frazier followed with her base hit that made it 6-3 and UCO strung together five hits in the sixth.

Consecutive run-scoring singles by Nathalie Timmermans, Kacie Edwards and Whitmire bumped the lead to 9-3 before Frazier delivered just her second extra-base hit of the season to end it.

The Bronchos clubbed 16 hits in the finale, getting three apiece from Frazier and Timmermans while five other players had two hits each. Rachael Steverson picked up her 26^th pitching win of the season, giving up six hits to the potent Rambelles while going the distance.

The Bronchos broke on top 1-0 in the bottom of the first with three straight one-out singles. Kayce Raines started things with a base hit up the middle, Timmermans followed with a single down the right field line and Edwards drove a single to center field to score Raines.

Three more hits in the second enabled the Bronchos to up their lead to 3-0.

Frazier led off with a bunt single and moved to second on Macy McKay's sacrifice bunt before avoiding a sweeping tag at home to score on Kaylee Brunson's single to center field and Raines made it 3-0 with another base hit to center.

ASU pushed across a pair of runs in the fourth inning to pull within 3-2 and then scored one in the fifth to tie it before the Bronchos took control.

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