BETHANY, Okla. - Junior Maddie Dow highlighted a pivotal 12-1 win in the Great American Conference series finale against Southern Nazarene as she blasted three homeruns and collected seven RBI as Southern Arkansas split Saturday's doubleheader and earned a series split on Saturday afternoon at the Cypert Athletic Complex.

In the series finale, Kimmy Beasley (7-0) tossed five innings of four-hit softball, as she allowed just one run and two walks while striking out four in her seventh complete game of the season. The Lady Muleriders' (14-2, 6-2 GAC) twelve runs came courtesy of eleven hits as the offense erupted for a combined ten runs in the fourth and fifth innings en-route to their eighth run-rule victory of the young season.

Early on, Southern Nazarene's Ashley Potter kept the Lady Mulerider bats in check through the first three innings as her only blemishes came via an RBI-double from Summer Ehrig that scored Chelsea Jordan and Dow's first homerun of the afternoon as SAU led 2-0 through three innings. The Lady Mulerider offense scratched four runs in the fourth inning as Potter was unable to work around back-to-back singles by Tyler Casada and Ashton Atwell, before Liz Hudgins delivered a one-out two-RBI double that pushed SAU's advantage to 4-0 that ended the starter's time in the circle.

Dow welcomed SNU reliever Katelyn Brown to the game by hammering her second homerun of the contest to right field that gave Southern Arkansas a 6-0 lead.

The Crimson Storm plated their only run of the second game in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single, before the Lady Muleriders unloaded offensively in the fifth with six runs that were highlighted by a two-out Grand Slam to left centerfield from the bat of Dow that scored Ehrig, Hudgins and Goad to put SAU up 12-1. The latter three all reached without registering a base hit as the trio reached base via fielder's choice, walk and hit-by-pitch respectively. Beasley worked quickly in the home-half to preserve the large lead and the series split.

In Saturday's opener, SAU plated three runs on four hits as they faced another strong outing by Crimson Storm starting pitcher Kayla Wyatt. SAU starter Kaylee Garner (6-2) matched Wyatt pitch-for-pitch in six innings of work, scattering five hits and surrendering three earned runs in the loss.

Southern Arkansas found the scoreboard early as lead-off hitter Brooke Goad belted a solo-homerun through center field for the game's first run. The Crimson Storm answered in the home-half of the first inning with a pair of runs to give Wyatt early run support. SNU tacked on another run in the second inning before Dow plated Hudgins on an RBI-groundout as SAU trailed 3-2.

A Taylor Guin double in the fifth inning plated Darian Harris as SAU knotted the game at three runs each. A Lady Mulerider throwing error in the fifth inning proved to be the difference as SNU pushed across a run on the play.

Dow and Guin each collected three hits on the day. Dow added seven RBI and joined Hudgins in scoring three runs. Ehrig, Hudgins and Jordan followed with a pair of hits and two runs scored each.

The Lady Muleriders will return to action this coming weekend as they are slated to host Southwestern Oklahoma State in a four-game Great American Conference series on March 4 and 5. First pitch for Friday's doubleheader is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday's twinbill is set for noon.

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.