Western Oklahoma State (4-0) picked up two wins against Grayson College Wednesday afternoon. The Pioneer offense exploded for 18 runs behind a quality pitching performance from Kelsey Watson in game one to win 18-0 in five innings. In game two, the Pioneers got six solid innings from Bailee Kaderka to win 5-2.

Emery Fox led the bottom half of the first with a double to left-center then moved to third on an infield single from Maggie McBrayer. Fox then scored off a single to center field off the bat of Kaderka. Two batters later with one out, Emily Jones singled to left field to load the bases. A Malori Moss walk stretch the lead to two runs. The Pioneers added another run when Katy Fletcher hit a line drive off the Grayson pitcher to keep the bases loaded with one out. Western’s final run of the inning cameoff a Watson ground ball scoring Jones.

Fox led the 2nd inning off with her second double to left-center in as many innings. McBrayer then reached on an error allowing Fox to score. The Pioneers got a two out single from Bailey Spencer but did not score again in the inning taking a 5-0 lead to the third.

The Pioneers blew the game open in the bottom of the third scoring six times in the inning. Moss led the inning off with a walk then stole second base and advanced to third on the throw. Fletcher followed with a deep sacrifice fly to center field to push Moss across. A Haylee Beck walk and Fox single set McBrayer up with two outs. On a 1-0 count, McBrayer sent a line drive over the left-center field wall to put Western up 9-0. The bomb was followed by a sharp double to right-center field from Kaderka with two outs. Spencer proceeded to hit her first home run of the day. This one a two run shot to left-center to extend the Pioneer lead to eleven headed to the fourth.

Fletcher led the bottom of the fourth off with a single to left field. Pinch hitter Kelly Walton then reached on an error to put runners at the corners with nobody out. Pinch hitter Kristan Rhoades followed with a two rbi double off the center field wall to score Fletcher and Walton. McBrayer then drove in Rhoades with a single to center field. A Kaderka walk followed by a Spencer single loaded the bases for Jones. The freshman third baseman laced a single to left field to drive another run in for the Pioneers. With a 15-0 lead and the bases loaded, Fletcher cleared them with a three rbi double to right field to finish the Pioneers’ tally at eighteen.

Kelly Walton came on in the fifth inning to finish the game. Walton retired the side in order with two ground balls and a strikeout.

Kelsey Watson (2-0) got the win for Western going four innings allowing no runs on three hits and struck out seven. The Pioneers got three hit performances out of Emery Fox, Maggie McBrayer, Bailey Spencer, and Katy Fletcher. McBrayer and Spencer both connected for home runs while Fletcher drove in five runs in the game.

Game two proved to be a tighter contest between the two programs. Kaderka got the start in the circle for Western retiring the side in the top of the first.

Grayson got on the board first in the top of the second with a rbi single to right field. That would be the only damage though as Kaderka got a ground ball to freshman shortstop Katy Fletcher to start an inning ending double play. The Pioneers got a two out walk from Moss but did not push anything across to leave the deficit at one.

Western was able to answer in the bottom of the third though with three runs. Beck led the inning off with a walk then scored two batter later off a McBrayer double. McBrayer was thrown out advancing to third on the play bringing up Kaderka with two outs and nobody on. Kaderka delivered with a solo home run to center field to put Western up one. Spencer followed by hitting the next pitch out for her second home run of the day giving the Pioneers a 3-1 lead headed to the fourth inning.

Grayson trimmed the lead to one with a run in the top of the fourth. The Pioneer went down in order in the bottom of the inning to keep the score at 3-2.

.McBrayer led the 5th inning off with a walk but the next two hitters would go down bringing Jones up with two outs. Jones was then hit by a pitch. McBrayer and Jones both moved up on a wild pitch to put two runners in scoring position for Fletcher. The Healdton, OK native responded with a single to left field driving in both runs to give the Pioneers a three run lead going to the sixth.

Neither team would score in the sixth bringing Grayson to the plate for their last call. After a lead-off walk, Watson came on to try to pick up a save in the circle for the Pioneers. Watson struck out the first two batters before giving up a single to bring the tying run to the plate. Grayson came up short though with Braddock striking out on a 2-2 fastball from Watson giving Western a 5-2 win.

Bailee Kaderka (2-0) threw six strong innings scattering six hits and striking out three while allowing two runs. Watson got her first save of the year striking out the side in the top of the seventh inning. Western got hits from seven different players including Bailey Spencer’s second home run on the day. Katy Fletcher added two rbi’s in game two to push her rbi total to seven for the day.

“Once again we got two quality starts from our pitchers today and also got some good work from our bullpen,” said head coach Mike McBrayer. “We got an outburst offensively in that first game but needed to carry some of it over to game two. The biggest improvement from Saturday was putting more quality at-bats together and eliminating some mistakes on the bases.”

Western will travel to Fort Worth, Texas now to play six games in two days in the Cowtown Classic starting Friday. The Pioneers first game will start at 10:00 a.m. Friday against Bossier Parrish College.