MAGNOLIA, Ark. – With a pair of wins over East Central on Sunday afternoon in the regular season doubleheader finale for both clubs, No. 20 Southern Arkansas topped the 40-win mark for the first time in program history, while sweeping the Great American Conference series with the Tigers at Dawson Field inside the Mulerider Softball Complex.
The Lady Muleriders (41-8, 33-8 GAC) clinched the second seed in the upcoming Great American Conference Tournament with yesterday's DH sweep, while today's DH sweep dropped East Central (24-29, 21-21 GAC) to the seventh seed in the tournament creating a first-round matchup between the two programs in Bentonville on Thursday at noon.
Southern Arkansas again received quality outings in the circle as
Kimmy Beasley (20-3) and
Kaylee Garner (21-3) each picked up wins, with Beasley tossing six innings, allowing a pair of runs, while Garner labored a complete seven innings surrendering just two hits en route to her 15
th complete game of the season.
In game one, SAU benefitted from a throwing error that allowed
Chelsea Jordan to break a scoreless tie in the third inning and with two outs
Brooke Goad singled home
Liz Hudgins as SAU carried a 2-0 lead after three innings.
RBI-singles in the fourth and fifth innings of game one accounted for both ECU runs on Sunday, while slotted in-between those run-scoring frames was an RBI-single from
Summer Ehrig that scored
Ashton Atwell. It eventually proved to be the winning run as Southern Arkansas took game one 3-2 after
Peyton Jenkins nailed down the seventh inning in relief by tossing three groundouts to end the ECU threat.
In the series finale, Garner was perfect through three innings, before allowing a pair of hits in the fourth and a walk in the fifth inning; which she struck out the side. She entered the sixth with a two-run lead courtesy of RBI-singles from
Maddie Dow and Hudgins that came back in the second inning.
The game's final run came via a solo home run by
Darian Harris in the fifth inning, as Garner worked around a pair of runners in the seventh to log her seventh shutout of the season.
Harris led SAU with three hits, while Dow and Hudgins followed with a pair of hits apiece. Those three, along with Ehrig and Goad collected single RBI on the day. Atwell and Harris each scored a pair of runs.
Southern Arkansas enters postseason play this Thursday with a first-round matchup in the 2016 Great American Conference Tournament with East Central at noon. Live stat links and video coverage will be made available later this week.
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