MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas Lady Mulerider Softball team concluded play in their season-opening invitational by invoking yet another pair of run-rules as they combined for 20 runs on 18 hits that included seven home runs to top Texas Woman's (10-1) and Cameron (10-2) on the final day of the eight-team, twenty-three game tournament on Sunday afternoon at the SAU Softball Complex.
                                 
The Lady Muleriders (6-0) run-ruled all six of their opponents this past weekend, while Sunday's finale served as the only SAU contest to go more than five innings. Southern Arkansas scored 53 runs in 31 innings, while only giving up three runs on 11 total hits during the weekend.
 
Sunday's action saw Kaylee Garner and Kimmy Beasley continue to dominate in the circle as both pitchers improved to 3-0 on the season as Garner tossed a one-hitter, collecting six strikeouts against the Pioneers, while Beasley scattered three hits and a pair of runs as she sat down 12 Aggies in six innings of work.
 
Southern Arkansas found themselves in unfamiliar territory in their opening game of the afternoon as Texas Woman's plated the first run against SAU in the twenty previous innings of 2016. A lead-off walk, a stolen base and a wild pitch quickly put a Pioneer runner at third and would score on a sacrifice-fly as TWU took an early 1-0 lead.
 
The Lady Muleriders answered immediately as Brooke Goad placed a pitch over the right field fence in her leadoff at-bat in the bottom half of the inning and Garner settled in by striking out the side in the top-half of the second inning. A two-out Chelsea Jordan RBI single scored Tyler Casada, who led-off the bottom of the second inning with a walk, giving SAU a 2-1 lead that they would not surrender.
 
A four-run bottom of the third was highlighted by a solo home run from the bat of Maddie Dow and five walks that led to a five-run Lady Mulerider lead after three innings of play. In the fourth inning, Casada grounded out, but plated Dow as SAU increased their lead to 7-1. The fifth and final inning saw Southern Arkansas launching a run-rule invoking home run with two outs for the third-time in the tournament as Ashton Atwell left the yard via a three-run dinger and in the process sent Southern Arkansas to 5-0.
 
The nightcap saw more of the same from a red-hot Lady Mulerider Softball team as they again overcame a run-scoring top of the first, this time from Cameron, by plating a pair of runs in the bottom half courtesy of a Darian Harris home run that left Lady Mulerider Field in a hurry to give SAU a 2-1 lead.
 
In the fourth inning, Goad followed with a mammoth two-run home run that put SAU up three, before Cameron added a run on a throwing error in the fourth. Dow and Harris both answered Cameron in the fifth as each slugged a solo home run giving SAU a 6-2 lead. The Lady Muleriders would plate four runs in the sixth with three coming with two outs after Dow plated Jordan on a sac-fly.
 
Atwell doubled to left center scoring Goad and a single from Casada plated Atwell before Harris scored on an eventual wild pitch to "walk-off" for Southern Arkansas.
 
Goad led Southern Arkansas with a combined four hits, while Atwell and Jordan each added three hits apiece. Goad and Harris each scored four runs, while Atwell and Dow crossed home three times. Atwell delivered four RBIs and Dow, Goad and Harris collected a trio of RBIs each. Harris walked four times and Atwell stole a bag.
 
The box scores of all twenty-three games of the 2016 SAU Softball Invitational can be found here: http://muleriderathletics.com/sports/2015/12/8/SAU_Softball_Invitational.aspx?path=softball.
 
Southern Arkansas will return to the field this coming weekend at the UAM 8-State Classic in Bentonville, Arkansas, with a six-game slate against more quality in-region opponents on February 12-14. Friday's opening day matchups consist of a 9 a.m. contest with Fort Hays State and a 3 p.m. game against Wayne State. Follow this link for game times and opponent information: http://muleriderathletics.com/schedule.aspx?path=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.