MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas Softball team garnered a pair of pivotal Great American Conference wins on Saturday afternoon at the SAU Softball Complex as they outlasted Henderson State 6-5 in a ten-inning affair, before finishing off the Reddies in the series finale 6-1.
The Lady Muleriders (26-3, 18-3 GAC) have matched their win total from a season ago with 26 victories, while the 18-3 GAC record currently positions the club in second place in the league standings; a single game back of Arkansas Tech in the loss column.
After a pair of games on Friday displayed quality pitching from both teams, Saturday's action featured a little more offense as the two squads combined for 18 runs as the teams tallied a collective 39 hits.
In the first game on Saturday, SAU starter
Kimmy Beasley fired 8.2 innings of work as she scattered eight hits, allowing five runs, while striking out eight batters. Beasley, similar to yesterday's series opener, carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning, before Henderson State put together a three hit, three run frame that put them on top 3-2.
Southern Arkansas' 2-0 lead came via a
Brooke Goad single with two outs in the third inning that scored
Taylor Guin and a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning by
Chelsea Jordan that plated
Ashton Atwell.
In the top of the sixth inning, HSU added a run for starter Michelle Sorenson as Ashlyn White homered to give the Reddies a 4-2 lead that would quickly be erased by Southern Arkansas in the home-half of the sixth inning. Atwell walked to lead off the inning and scored three batters later on a wild pitch, before
Liz Hudgins placed a one-out opposite field single down the line in left, plating pinch-runner
Kim Whelehon and tying the game at 4 runs apiece.
After a quick seventh and eighth innings from both teams, HSU plated a two-out run in the ninth inning to take a 5-4 lead and end Beasley's afternoon.
Kaylee Garner (12-3) entered in relief and shutdown the Reddies in 1.1 innings in the circle to pick up her 11
th win of the year as she worked a perfect tenth inning, before SAU ended it in the bottom half with their second extra-inning walk-off in as many days.
Facing Reddie reliever White, who entered the circle with one away in the sixth inning, Southern Arkansas manufactured the game-winning run beginning with unconventional "small ball" as Jordan and Hudgins laid down bunt singles, before a sacrifice bunt from
Summer Ehrig put the winning run in Jordan on third. Guin followed by lacing an RBI single into right centerfield giving SAU a critical 2-1 series lead.
In the series finale, Garner remained in the circle and, after working around a single run in the HSU first, settled down and grinded through seven innings as she scattered nine, struck out seven batters and surrendered just one walk in picking up her second win of the day and 12
th of the season.
Tyler Casada singled home a pair of runs in the fourth inning, giving Garner all the run support she would need as SAU took a 2-1 lead, before Casada scored a throwing error that resulted from a double by Jordan making it 3-1 in favor of SAU. An RBI single from
Maddie Dow in the fifth inning and a pair of RBI base knocks by Hudgins and Guin in the sixth inning rounded out the scoring for the Lady Muleriders.
Hudgins led Southern Arkansas with five hits on the day, while Guin and Jordan added four hits and Atwell, Casada, Dow and
Darian Harris finished with two hits each. Casada, Guin and Hudgins each collected a pair of RBI in the DH sweep.
The Lady Muleriders now turn their attention to a Great American Conference midweek doubleheader with Arkansas-Monticello on Rivalry Tuesday. First-pitch from Blossoms Field in Monticello is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Be sure to check
www.MuleriderAthletics.com or follow us on Twitter @MuleriderSports for the most up-to-date news on Lady Mulerider Softball.
