PIEDMONT, Okla. – Henderson State trailed 4-3 going into the seventh inning and rallied with a two-run frame to take down Northwestern Oklahoma State in the series opener 5-4.
 
HSU recorded ten hits across the seven-inning contest, with Miyah Jackson and Lily Warren each recording two hits. Brooke Johnson started the game in the circle and pitched 5.2 innings before Katelyn McMahan and Erika Bittinger came in for relief. 
 
Both sets of bats were kept at bay by the opposite pitching staff, with the two teams locked at 0-0 after three scoreless frames. The Reddies bats finally got going in the top of the fourth to break the deadlock and strike first, plating three runs. A leadoff triple out into right field by Brooke Johnson led to the first score of the frame before two consecutive hits by Mackenzie Williams and Justine Burch scored the next two runs to stretch the lead to 3-0.
 
Johnson, in the circle, provided three quick outs in the bottom of the fourth and would retire the NWOSU lineup after facing five batters in the fifth as Northwestern continued to be kept off the scoreboard. The Lady Rangers soon found some momentum and would take the lead in the bottom of the sixth with a four-run inning. NWOSU's first run came off an error by the Reddies' third-baseman before a bases-clearing triple to right center field scored the next three runs to make it 4-3.
 
Trailing by a run going into the seventh inning, Warren led off the frame with a single and would make it to third after two ground outs. A double by Jackson tied the game 4-4, and  McMahan would give the Reddies the lead with an RBI single, 5-4. In the bottom of the seventh and holding a one-run lead, Bittinger came in for relief and got the final three outs in order to ice the game and take a 1-0 lead in the series.
 
Henderson State (7-6) will look to clinch a series win in tomorrow's doubleheader, starting at 12 p.m.