Softball Enters Second Half of OKC Challenge

November 20, 2017 | Softball

Sophomore Sydney Warinner recaps day three of the OKC Challenge as the Red Team pushes to even the score

Sophomore pitcher Sydney Warinner checks in with a recap of day three of softball's Oklahoma City Challenge.

Today marks day three of the 2017 OKC Challenge. Each team reported to Marshall Center at 6:00 this morning to attack the day's events. Today's competition consisted of the seven-inning challenge and an extra-inning bonus round.

Last night, each team captain submitted a line-up to Coach Molly Binetti. Players 1-3 in the line-up would compete in inning one: conditioning. Players 4-6 would compete in inning two: strength, with players 7-9 in inning three: strength. Players 1-3 would compete in inning four: a mixed event, players 4-6 in inning five: a mixed event, and players 7-9 in inning 6: strength. Four players chosen by their captain would compete in inning seven: speed. The bonus round followed.

The Red Squad's line-up was as follows: Jordyn Wolfe, Riley Schindler, Jamie Soles, Alison Szydlowski (Mike), Nicole Pufahl, Kyra Snyder, Ashley Nikolao, Madison Cousineau, and Jenna Jordan. Since the Black Squad only has eight healthy team members as opposed to the Red Team's nine, they completed two lineups to avoid one player having to compete in five events. The first lineup consisted of: Celene Funke, Maddy Newman, Catie Barber, Caitlin Ferguson, Madison Ciaccio, Danielle Watson, Megan Hensley, Paige Schindler, Celene Funke. The second lineup was Megan Hensley, Maddy Newman, Catie Barber, Caitlin Ferguson, Madison Ciaccio, Danielle Watson, Celene Funke, Paige Schindler, Megan Hensley.

Inning one was a 2,000 ft. race on the versa-climber. Wolfe, R. Schindler, and Soles of the Red Squad faced off against Funke, Newman, and Barber of the Black Team. The Black Squad achieved a strong start and early lead, while the Red Squad maintained a steady pace throughout the first leg of the race. The Red Squad's quick transitions and strong finish earned it the first finish. After inning one, the score was 1-0 in favor of team Red.

Szydlowski, Pufahl, and Snyder of the Red Squad competed against Ferguson, Ciaccio, and Watson of the Black Squad in inning two. For this event, each player had to grab a bike and complete .5 miles on gear 24. The Black Squad charged through this challenge to win. The score was now 1-1.

Inning three was a sled-push race. Each team had six red plates, equivalent to 150 kg or about 330 lbs., on top of their sled. To win, a team had to complete six total lengths of the turf inside Marshall. The Red Squad's Nikolao, Cousineau, and Jordan competed against the Black Squad's Hensley, P. Schindler, and Funke. The Red Squad pushed off of the wall to achieve a quick lead. The Black Squad slowed down considerably, as a result of its sled's dysfunctional handle, which detached from the sled during every transition. This allowed the Red Squad to increase its lead and extend the score to 2-1.

For the fourth inning, Wolfe, R. Schindler, and Soles of the Red Team had to race against Hensley, Newman, and Barber on the erg machine, which simulates rowing. Each player would have to reach 500 meters before switching with her teammate, and the first team to have all three players individually complete 500 meters would win. Newman achieved a strong start and earned a lead for the Black Squad. The Red Team slowly caught up during the second leg of the race. With an incredible effort by Megan Hensley, the Black Squad won the event and tied the score at 2-2.

Inning five revived memories from last Thursday, as this challenge, move the mountain, involved carrying six 25 kg plates throughout the field hockey stadium and building a perfect pile of plates at the foot of the opposite flight of stadium stairs. Szydlowski, Pufahl, and Snyder attacked this challenge alongside Ferguson, Ciaccio, and Watson. Each team began the race attempting to carry two plates at a time, but when that proved impossible, each player dropped her second plate and cycled through the stadium twice to complete the challenge. The teams were neck-and-neck for the majority of the race, but after a penalty for one witnessed plate drop for the Black Squad and a strategic hand-off from Snyder to Szydlowski on their final plate, the Red Squad was victorious. The score then advanced to 3-2 in favor of the Red Team.

For inning six, the teams headed to the soccer field for a tire flip challenge. The team to flip its tire 50 yards in the shortest amount of time would win. Nikolao, Cousineau, and Jordan faced off against Funke, P. Schindler, and Hensley. The Black Squad went first and completed the task in 57.97 seconds. The Red Squad followed and beat the time by nearly seven seconds to push the score to 4-2.
Inning seven: speed involved a relay race in which four selected players each ran one lap around the track and handed a baton to her next teammate running. For the first lap, Jordan and Watson finished in a near tie. Wolfe sprinted to gain a lead for the Red team while Ferguson followed closely behind. Funke and Newman then tag-teamed to race ahead of the Red Squad's R. Schindler and Szydlowski to achieve a win by over 100 meters, bringing the score to 4-3.

Although the Red and Black Squads had completed all seven innings, one more challenge remained: the bonus. For this event, Wolfe of the Red Team and Hensley of the Black Team competed in a towel hang. Wolfe outlasted Hensley and earned the extra-inning win.

In contrast to every other day of OKC thus far, today's points were winner takes all. In an equally unique turn of events, the earnings for the bonus and winning 4/7 of the innings equaled the points awarded during the race to the stadium, the stadium run itself, the 100-mile bike race, the Tower of Hanoi, Tug-of-War, and the bonus points for meals, COMBINED. Coach Molly awarded every single point for today's competition to the Red Squad, and the Black Squad earned zero points for its three wins, so the score is now an even 500-500.

The Red and Black Teams will enter the OKC Challenge's final day with an even playing field. Tune in tomorrow for the finale, which will determine the overall victor for the 2017 OKC Challenge.