BENTONVILLE, Ark. –The Southern Arkansas Lady Mulerider Softball team opened play in the UAM 8-State Classic with a pair of in-region wins that included a five-inning, 13-0 win over Fort Hays State of the MIAA and a 7-3 victory against Wayne State (Neb.) of the Northern Sun to improve to 8-0 on the season on Friday at Memorial Park in Bentonville.
In the early opener, the Lady Muleriders found the scoreboard quickly as leadoff hitter
Brooke Goad placed the first pitch she saw into the right field bleachers for a 1-0 lead and four batters later
Tyler Casada followed suit to left field with a three-run home run that put SAU up 4-0 with one out in the inning; promptly ending Fort Hays starter Carrie Clarke's day in the circle.
Southern Arkansas batted through the lineup in the bottom half of the first as singles from
Taylor Guin and
Chelsea Jordan with two outs kept the inning alive for
Liz Hudgins who singled to left field scoring Guin and giving SAU starter
Kaylee Garner a 5-0 cushion.
Despite the five-run lead after an inning of play, Garner (4-0) would only need a run as she again dominated producing 4.0 innings of scoreless softball allowing just two hits and a walk, while striking out eight batters. Garner struck out the side in the second inning and worked around a two-out error that eventually led to a runner at third in the third inning, while her teammates tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom half of the third courtesy of a homerun by Hudgins that plated Guin, giving the Lady Muleriders a 7-0 lead.
Fort Hays threatened in the fourth inning with runners at first and second with one out, but Garner whiffed the next two batters to end the threat, before SAU plated six runs in the bottom half of the frame, placing a potential run-rule on the contest. In the SAU fourth,
Darian Harris led off the inning with a solo jack and Hudgins plated a run via groundout, before Goad (three-run) and Dow (solo) followed with back-to-back long balls putting the Lady Muleriders out front 13-0.
Southern Arkansas would ultimately force the run-rule after
Miranda Cuff relieved Garner in the fifth inning, by working around a lead-off single to invoke a fly ball out and a pair of groundouts to give SAU their seventh-straight win to begin the year with all coming via run-rule.
In game two, Southern Arkansas received yet another strong performance in the circle as
Kimmy Beasley scattered seven hits and two walks with ten strikeouts over seven innings of work, surrendering just a single earned run, while improving to 4-0 on the year. The Wayne State matchup proved to be the first seven-inning game the Lady Muleriders played in 2016.
Wayne State scratched a run early as they used two hits and a walk to plate the game's first two runs. It wasn't until the bottom of the second that Southern Arkansas would answer as Goad's second at-bat of the game scored
Summer Ehrig who led off the inning with a walk.
Beasley stranded a pair of runners in the third, before her offense supplied her with the lead and additional run support in the bottom half of the same frame. Singles by
Ashton Atwell and Harris led off the inning and both players advanced a bag after a passed ball.
Tyler Casada drew a walk to load the bases for Ehrig who plated the tying run in Atwell via a sacrifice fly. With two outs,
Chelsea Jordan dropped her first round-tripper of the year over the left field fence, scoring three and putting Southern Arkansas up 5-2.
In-between Beasley striking out the side in the fourth and invoking a pair of ground balls and a backwards K in the fifth, Goad launched another home run adding to Beasley's cushion. The Wildcats plated their third and final run in the top of the sixth as a two-out single plated a run bringing their deficit to three, 6-3. A single from the bat of Ehrig in the sixth plated SAU's final run as the Lady Muleriders improved to 8-0 with a 7-3 victory.
Southern Arkansas collected 22 hits and 20 runs in two games, while giving up just ten hits and three runs. Goad led the offensive attack with five hits and six RBIs combined on the day. Hudgins produced a pair of hits and four RBIs, while Casada and Jordan added three RBIs apiece.
The Lady Muleriders begin play on day two of the UAM 8-State Classic with two more in-region contests starting at 10 a.m. against nationally-ranked No. 16 Missouri Western, before turning around for a noon first-pitch with Minnesota State-Mankato. Live stats for the Missouri-Western game can be found here:
http://www.sidearmstats.com/missouri/softball/.
Be sure to visit muleriderathletics.com for pregame and postgame recaps, coach's shows and other information and news regarding the 2016 Lady Mulerider Softball team.
