AUSTIN, Texas – Oklahoma Christian cleanup hitter Aaliyah Brown drove in four runs over the final two innings to break up a masterful pitching duel in a 4-1 St. Edward's loss to the Eagles. 
 
St. Edward's showcased how its speed at the top of the lineup can change a game in the bottom of the first inning, opening with ARIANNA VIDALES' leadoff single up the middle. 
 
KATIE DILLON followed with her third bunt for a single in the series, a fact likely on the mind of third baseman Brooklin Bain, whose hurried throw sailed wide of first, advancing both Dillon and Vidales an extra base. SLOANE HILL followed with a sacrifice fly to right field, giving the Hilltoppers the early 1-0 lead. 
 
Tristyn Hamilton opened third with a leadoff single, slap-hitting a drive into shallow center. Then Kadence Brewster moved her into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, but St. Edward's pitcher KYLEN PADGETT followed with her third strikeout, and Bain grounded out to LAUREN HOYT to end the inning. 
 
St. Edward's put two on with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, with pinch-hitter ALEA DESERRANO and Vidales hitting back-to-back singles up the middle, but Oklahoma Christian pitcher Jill Dickson escaped with a strikeout to end the threat. 
 
Padgett kept Oklahoma Christian off-balance for most of the game, climbing the ladder with fastballs early in the count, then disrupting hitters' rhythm with off-speed pitches late. The result was five scoreless innings with five strikeouts and a slew of harmless flyouts due to hitters being way ahead of Padgett's pitches.
 
However, Bain drew a leadoff walk on a full count in the top of the sixth, and that small foothold allowed Oklahoma Christian to tie the game on an RBI double from Brown. Oklahoma Christian continued to threaten with another single and error to put two runners second and third, but ELLA HUTZLER saved a run with a head's up play, getting the lead runner out at home on the tag out, and the Hilltopper defense limited the damage to the single run.  
 
Hill opened the bottom of the inning with a leadoff walk. ELLA HUTZLER moved pinch-runner CHARLOTTE NUCCIO over with a sacrifice bunt, but the Hilltoppers followed with back-to-back flyouts to leave Nuccio stranded at second. 
 
Hamilton led off the seventh with another slap-hitting single, putting the ball just into left field. Brewster moved her over with a sacrifice bunt, and Walde flied out to center, moving Hamilton to third. Then, Padgett hit Bain, and Brown drove a 3-2 pitch over the left-field fence for a three-run blast for the 4-1 lead. Whitehouse followed with a single up the middle, ending Padgett's afternoon with LISETTE URQUIDEZ coming out of the bullpen to get out of the inning with a groundout to third. 
 
DeSerrano reached with two outs on a walk, and Vidales reached on an error to put the tying run at the plate, but Vidales was called for runner's interference on a Dillon groundout to end the game. 
 
Dillon and Vidales each hit 2-for-4, and Hill was 0-for-1 with a sacrifice fly RBI and a walk. Brown led Oklahoma Christian with a 2-for-4 performance, driving in all four runs. 
 
St. Edward's falls to 4-12 with a 2-4 conference record. The Hilltoppers will travel this weekend to play at Eastern New Mexico on Saturday and Sunday.