Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

BETHANY, Okla. – The Southern Arkansas softball team picked up a pair of big conference wins as they got their offense going in a major way by pounding out 21 hits and scoring 17 runs across both games of their doubleheader against Southern Nazarene on Saturday afternoon.
 
The afternoon's first game would not feature a ton of offense on either side, especially early on, as both team's ace pitchers took to the circle. With the two aces squaring off, the game would remain scoreless until the top of the fifth inning when the Lady Muleriders (28-22, 22-14 GAC) scored on a solo homerun by Maddie Dow.
 
Dow's homerun was her 16th of the season and breaks the previous single-season record of 15 homeruns set by teammate Brooke Goad earlier this season.
 
The slim one-run lead would not last long for the Lady Muleriders, however, as the Crimson Storm (19-30, 12-22 GAC) answered back with a run of their own in the bottom of the fifth to knot the game at one-all.
 
After neither team scored in the sixth, the Lady Muleriders would power their way to three more runs in the top of the seventh as they pushed ahead 4-1. All three of those runs scored came via the homerun as Shelby Miller hit a solo blast which was followed two batters later with a two-run shot from Audrey Farfan.
 
The Crimson Storm would score a run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to make it a 4-2, game, but SAU starting pitcher Hanna Gill would limit the damage there as she struck out the next batter to secure her eighth win of the season.
 
In the nightcap, the offense that the Lady Muleriders started to get going late in the first game wasted no time in showing up in the second game as SAU scored four runs in the top of the first. No homeruns were hit that inning, but the Lady Muleriders did get RBIs from Dow, Sarah Higginbotham, Leigha Doyle, and Darian Harris.
 
The Crimson Storm would score a run of their own in the bottom of the first and then the two teams would trade single runs over the next two innings to make it a 5-2 SAU lead through three innings of play.
 
In the top of the fourth, the Lady Muleriders would open the game wide open as they scored five runs on four hits to take a 10-2 lead. In that inning, Dow would draw a leadoff walk, which was then followed by a single by Farfan. In the next at-bat, Higginbotham would belt a three-run shot. Three batters later, Harris left the yard for a solo bomb.  After a walk to Taylor Guin in the next at-bat, Brittany Johnson would drive in the fifth run that inning as she singled to right field.
 
An inning later, Higginbotham struck once more, this time for a two-run homer as she gave SAU a 12-2 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth. The two-run shot gave Higginbotham seven RBIs in the second game.
 
The Crimson Storm would avoid the five-inning run-rule as they scored three runs, but a sacrifice fly by Miller in the top of the sixth put the run-rule back into effect as the Lady Muleriders won the game 13-5 in six innings.
 
The Lady Muleriders will now prepare for a road non-conference doubleheader against Division I Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Wednesday, April 23. First-pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.