EDMOND, Okla. — A late rally attempt came up just short for the Newman softball team on Friday afternoon (Feb. 15) at the UCO-OC Festival, as Southern Nazarene scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 7th inning in a defensive 3-2 battle. The Jets fall to 1-2 on the year, while the Storm move to 3-6.

On a frigged day to say the least with a bitter temperature of 29 degrees at first pitch with a wind chill feeling like 20 degrees the two teams would battle back in forth in a defensive battle.

While falling behind 2-0 in the top of the 1st, the Jets defense settled in allowing no runs over the next five innings after a strong starting pitching performance by Dominique Payne.

As the cool temperatures continued to drop, Emma Eck sparked some warmth into the Newman offense drilling a 2-run homerun over the left field fences in the bottom of the sixth tying the game 2-2.

The Storm rallied back with the game winning run in the top half of the 7th on a one out single taking a 3-2 lead. The Jets were unable to get the tying run on base as a three-up, three-down bottom of the 7th ended the comeback attempt.

Lauren Kuhrt reached base twice with a 1 for 2 performance, while drawing a walk and swiping two bags in the loss.

The cold temperatures canceled Newman's second game against Colorado Christian that was scheduled for 4:00 p.m. The teams are still in the process of deciding if they will make up the game or not as the forecasted temperatures remain in the 30's over the rest of the weekend.  

The Jets will be hoping for a heatwave over the night as they will have an early morning 11:00 a.m. start against Southwestern Oklahoma State in the second day of the UCO-OC Festival.