The Braves snapped their three game losing streak with a 4-1 come from behind victory over the University of St. Francis on Tuesday evening at Tucker Field.
Emma Melvin hit a grand slam in the bottom of the fourth to give the Braves the victory. All three of OU's hits came in the fourth inning.
 Ottawa and Freed-Hardeman met in the first game of the Henderson NAIA Opening Round. FHU took the 5-4 victory over the Braves. In loss to the Lions on Monday afternoon,
Cierra Faubion went 2-for-2 at the plate. She walked twice and scored a run.
Ashlynn Mercer pitched in 6.2 innings, striking out one.
Madison Bunfill leads the Braves in batting average (.359) and RBI (53).
Ashlynn Mercer is OU's leader in ERA (2.23) and strike outs (122).
Through 52 games, the Braves are hitting .290, have a .382 on base percentage, and a .427 slugging percentage. OU has hit 31 home runs and scored 324 runs.
OU is ranked 26th in the NAIA in runs (324), 24th in doubles (86), 25th in home runs (31), 32nd in extra base hits (123), 47th in total bases (592), sixth in walks (180), 39th in sacrifice flies (14), 37th in stolen bases (101), 50th in on base percentage (.382), 46th in ERA (2.66), 40th in shutouts (10), and 39th in opponent batting average (.241).
This is OU's fifth trip to the NAIA Opening Round. Ottawa has won two NAIA Opening Rounds and have qualified for five NAIA Softball World Series. The Braves have a record of 8-5 in NAIA Opening Rounds and won NAIA Openings Rounds in 2017 and 2021.
Off the diamond, the Braves excel in the classroom. OU had five softball players named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) NAIA Academic All-District Team. They are
Allison Kearney,
Riley Newbold,
Loralei Gilbert,
Hannah Copeland, and
Aliks Serna.
Freed-Hardeman University fell to (15) Central Methodist University in the winner's bracket on Tuesday afternoon, 9-1, in six innings. CMU scored six runs in the bottom of the second to take the early 6-0 lead. FHU scored its run in the top of the fifth. Central Methodist ended the game in the sixth with two runs to take the 9-1 victory.
The Lions are led in batting average (380) and RBI (36) by Sophie Dunavant. Chloe Winters leads the team in ERA (1.98) and Brittany Adair leads FHU in strike outs (184).
Freed-Hardeman is 26-14 this season. The Lions are hitting .315, have a .372 on base percentage, and a .460 slugging percentage. FHU has hit 26 home runs and scored 217 runs.
The Lions are ranked 44th in the NAIA in home runs (26), 12th in strike outs (113), 52nd in batting average (.315), 34th in slugging percentage (.460), 31st in ERA (2.24), 11th in shut outs (16), and 15th in opponent batting average (.218).
