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BENTONVILLE, Ark.  – Less than two hours after losing their opening game of the 2013 Great American Conference Tournament, the Southern Arkansas softball team staved off elimination behind a record-setting no-hitter thrown by sophomore pitcher Hanna Gill.
 
The no-hitter by Gill is the eighth in SAU history and the first since 2004. In addition to adding her name to the record books with a no-hitter, Gill's name now stands atop the career wins list as she earned her 40th career win.
 
For Gill and the Lady Muleriders (27-29), the no-no could not have come at a better time as they were forced into an elimination game after losing to rivals Arkansas-Monticello by a score of 5-3 less than an hour before the start of the game against Southwestern Oklahoma.
 
Now playing with the season on the line, the Lady Muleriders got on the board early against SWOSU as Mackenzie Spanko took advantage of an errant throw by the Lady Bulldogs' (16-36) catcher to score the first run of the game in the top of the first inning.
 
An inning later, the Lady Muleriders added a three runs to take a 4-0 lead. In that inning, Darian Harris led off with homerun to right-centerfield while Courtney Johnson's bunt single three batters later plated the third run of the inning. In between, Brittany Wood scored on a throwing error by the catcher.
 
After two scoreless innings in the third and fourth, the Lady Muleriders scored their final run of the game in the top of the fifth as Lauren Witzke singled through the left side of the infield to score Kelsey Fisher.     
 
With the win, the Lady Muleriders are scheduled to play on Friday at 1:00 p.m. against East Central in another elimination game. Earlier this season, SAU and ECU split their four-game series.
 
Live Stats and Live Video will be provided by the Great American Conference.