MAGNOLIA, Ark. – After falling in game one, 8-3, the Southern Arkansas softball team came back with a dominating 11-3 win in the nightcap to force the split against Southern Nazarene on SAU's Senior Day on Sunday afternoon at Lady Mulerider Field.
 
In the opening game loss, junior outfielder Ashton Atwell provided all the offense for the Lady Muleriders (22-19, 12-15 GAC) as she launched her 14th homerun of the season with a three-run shot to straightaway centerfield in the bottom of the first inning.
 
Southern Nazarene, however, would score twice in third and added three runs in the fourth to take a 5-3 lead over SAU. In the top of the seventh, the Crimson Storm (17-24, 13-16 GAC) would tack on three more runs to bring the game to its eventual final of 8-3.
 
In the second game, the Lady Muleriders once again got on the board early as they plated four runs in the bottom of the first inning. All four of the runs for SAU that inning were unearned as the Crimson Storm right fielder was unable to catch a fly ball off the bat of Maddie Dow with two outs in the inning.
 
Following that error, SAU took advantage in the next at-bat as senior catcher Sarah Higginbotham singled up the middle to score Atwell, who singled two at-bats prior. Dow then came around score as Audrey Farfan reached first base on an errant throw by the SNU pitcher. Following a walk to Summer Ehrig, SAU plated their next two runs on a two-RBI single to shallow centerfield off the bat of Darian Harris.
 
The early four runs of support were in favor of game two starter Chancy Williams and Williams showed her gratitude by not allowing a hit over the next three innings to keep it 4-0 SAU through the Southern Nazarene half of the fourth.
 
In the SAU half of the fourth, the Lady Muleriders would double up their lead with another four-run inning to take an 8-0 lead. In that inning, SAU would get RBIs by Atwell on a double to right-centerfield, Dow on a single to right-centerfield, Higginbotham on a single to right-centerfield, and from Farfan, who drove in a run on a fielder's choice.
 
The Crimson Storm would not let the game end there, however, as they rallied for three runs in the top of the fifth off of Williams to force a bottom of the fifth.
 
In that bottom of the fifth, SAU applied the pressure early. Senior Leigha Doyle pinch-hit to lead off the inning and reached first base on an error by the SNU third baseman. After that, SAU got consecutive bunt singles from Taylor Guin and senior Chelsea Ivy to load the bases with no outs. Atwell then drove in Doyle and Guin on a single up the middle, making it a 10-3 game.
 
On that single, Ivy moved to third base representing the game-ending run. A four-pitch walk to Dow re-loaded the bases for Higginbotham. After falling behind 1-2 in the count, Higginbotham hit a ball on the ground to the SNU third baseman, who then came home trying to get Ivy on a force at home, but Ivy out-ran the thrown and was called safe at the plate to end the game and give SAU an 11-3 win in five innings.
 
SAU and SNU will conclude their series with a doubleheader on Monday with a first-pitch time scheduled for Noon.