WICHITA – Seniors Kelsey Jones, Kaitlyn Buck, Sarah Balderas and Kaitlyn Padilla all helped the Newman softball team to 6-5 win over Oklahoma Christian on Sunday (April 26) on Senior Day at the Newman Softball Field. NU got the series win, 2-1, over the Eagles, and moved to 17-37 overall and 7-15 in the conference. The 17 wins are the most for the Jets since becoming NCAA Division II in 2009.
 
NU put up three runs in the second inning to go up 3-0. Senior Kaitlyn Padilla got the first RBI, drawing a walk with the bases loaded. Fellow senior Sarah Balderas scored for the 1-0 edge. Courtney Sartin upped the advantage to 3-0 with a double down the line to plate Taylor Mannis and Sarah Morales.
 
In the third inning, Jensen Cromer doubled to left center to score senior Kelsey Jones for a 4-0 advantage. A solo home run to left field by Breanna Pingry in the fourth inning put the Jets up 5-0.
 
The fifth inning saw the Eagles put up three runs. The first two scored on a two-run homer for a 5-2 score. A double scored the third run of the inning, but OC was thrown out at third base on the hit to end the inning.
 
Pingry added what would be the game-winning run on a sac fly to score Padilla for a 6-3 lead.
 
The Eagles got two runs in the top of the seventh, but a ground out to Balderas ended the game and gave the Jets a 6-5 win.
 
Jones started in the circle, going 5 innings and allowing three runs on seven hits. She struck out one. Katie Ingles picked up the save, going the final 2 innings and allowed two runs on two hits with two strikeouts.
 
Jones went 2-for-3, and Balderas was 2-for-4 both with a run scored. Pingry finished at 2-for-3 with two RBI, and Sartin was 2-for-4 with two RBI. Cromer went 2-for-2 with one RBI. The Jets totaled 12 hits.
 
NU travels to the Heartland Conference Tournament to take on No. 1 seed St. Mary's on Thursday (April 30) at 4 p.m. in San Antonio, Texas.