Reed, Boren lift Aggies past No. 1 Buffs

Stormee Reed pitched an impressive 5-hit shutout and Kaiden Boren hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning as Cameron’s softball team stunned No. 1-ranked West Texas, 2-0, in the second game of Friday’s important Lone Star Conference doubleheader at McMahon Athletic Center.

The Buffs had coasted to a 10-1 victory in the first game but the Aggies regrouped in the break between the games and came back with an amazing effort, getting great pitching and several strong defensive plays to split the twinbill. The teams were scheduled to finish the series Saturday but persistent showers forced them to close the three-game set today at 1 p.m.

Before the big series, CU Coach Emma Johansen said she and her players loved a challenge and that they wanted to go toe-to-toe with the best and see where they stand.

The Buffs had last lost on April 4 when Lubbock Christian handed them an 8-7 loss but they came to Lawton with a 33-2 record and the No. 1 ranking in NCAA Division II. Those glossy numbers didn’t phase the Aggies who are now 20-18 in conference and 27-20 overall but more importantly the win over the top-ranked Buffs should aid CU’s cause when it comes to getting a boost in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional rankings next week.

Reed, a sophomore from Shawnee, scattered five hits to keep the Buffs from starting a big rally, plus she didn’t walk a batter and fanned three. She had the Buffs hitting 13 fly balls that her teammates tracked down and she got five big ground outs to get the complete-game effort.

Cameron also wound up with five hits and one of those was a huge one-out single by Taylor Rowley in the bottom of the sixth. Rowley waited for the right pitch, stole second and raced to third when nobody covered second base and the throw went into centerfield.

After the Buffs got a strikeout for the second out, it brought Boren, a senior from Harrah, to the plate. She watched a low a strike go past on the first pitch and then got a fastball on the outside edge of the strike zone and gave it a ride over the fence in left-center to give the Aggies all the runs they would need.

On the eve of the big series Johansen said that Rowley had been the “sparkplug” all season and she did just that to get the game-winning rally going.

“That is what Rowley has done all season; she finds a way to get on base and make things happen,” the coach said. Johansen then had the courage to call for the steal and that worked out to perfection.

That gave Boren her chance at the plate and after taking a low strike she got some extra motivation.

“Boren is our catcher, so she knows the strike zone as well as anyone and when she gets a bad call against her that just makes her more determined,” the coach said. “She got that next pitch and just made great contact.”

With the Aggies in the lead, Reed went about preserving the win. She gave up a leadoff double to M. Johnson but then got three straight fly ball outs to seal the victory and start a celebration around the pitcher.

“Stormee just pitched an amazing game,” Johansen said. “Her rise was working great and she was really changing levels and had them chasing some high pitchers. And our defense really made some big plays including (Alyssa) Deanda making a fantastic catch on a shot that she tracked down.

“But Stormee has a great deal of confidence for a sophomore. She never gets nervous and when she’s hitting her spots like she did today we always have a chance.”

The first game was all WT as the visitors smacked 11 hits and the Aggies aided the cause by walking four and committing five errors that allowed the Buffs to get four earned runs in that game. Jocelyn Bright got the start, allowing four hits and two earned runs and Tinley Schmidgal and Presleigh Payne shared the duties the rest of the way, allowing eight runs, four of those being earned.

Cameron managed just two hits against WT starter Emilee Boyer who got the win to run her record to 19-1.

“In that first game we made some bonehead plays but I told them to wipe the slate clear,” the coach said. “But we came out and did what we needed to do and that was to play lights out defensively and get some good pitching.”

Before the series Johansen also said a win over the Buffs would be huge when it comes to the NCAA Division II South Central rankings as Texas A&M-Kingsville had gotten ahead of the Aggies in last week’s vote.

“Hopefully this will be huge for us and get us back ahead of Kingsville,” she said. “We want to make it to the (NCAA DII) tournament and this is a big step in that direction.”