BENTONVILLE, Ark. – No. 18 Southern Arkansas entered "Championship Sunday" of the Great American Conference Tournament needing to defeat Harding twice in order to claim their second league-tournament title in three years and after a two-run walk-off homerun by junior designated player
Maddie Dow in the opener forced the decisive "if-necessary" game, junior pitcher
Peyton Jenkins delivered a complete-game shutout of the Lady Bisons as SAU captured the 2016 GAC Tournament Championship on Sunday afternoon at the Tiger Athletic Complex in Bentonville, Arkansas.
The Lady Muleriders (46-9) received the Great American Conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Regional Tournament and will learn of their postseason fate on Monday morning at 9 a.m. The Central Region's second-ranked team will open postseason play, regardless of venue, on Thursday, May 5. It will be just the second time in program history that Southern Arkansas will compete in an NCAA Regional Tournament; the first being two years ago when the program captured the 2014 GAC Tourney Title with a pair of wins over Southeastern Oklahoma State.
It was anything but easy for Southern Arkansas in Sunday's opener as multiple pressure-packed situations dictated the game's action from start to finish. All-GAC Second-Team pitcher
Kaylee Garner received her second tournament start for Southern Arkansas in game one and worked five innings of scoreless softball, before the GAC's Newcomer of the Year in
Kimmy Beasley entered in the sixth inning in what was her fourth appearance and first in relief.
Beasley worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning, before Jenkins tossed the seventh inning in her third tournament appearance.
Prior to game one's dramatic seventh inning, several defensive plays highlighted the morning as SAU's
Liz Hudgins threw-out a Lady Bison baserunner, who was attempting to score the game's first run, in the top half of the second to end the inning, before Harding's Brookelyn Moon robbed Dow of an extra-base, multiple-RBI hit in the third inning with an impressive grab in the left centerfield gap. SAU's
Tyler Casada erased a Harding base-runner resulting in a quick inning for Southern Arkansas.
Southern Arkansas scored first in the opener as Casada singled home
Taylor Guin on a short pop-up that fell on the infield for an RBI-base hit.
In the top half of the seventh inning, Harding's Kimmy Hendricks followed a one-out walk with a two-run homerun over the leftfield fence that all but clinched the tournament title, before Southern Arkansas' momentum-shifting at-bat in the seventh.
Darian Harris singled to lead-off the inning with the first-pitch that she saw from Harding's Hannah Johnson, and on a 2-2 count in the next at-bat Dow perpetrated a season-saving swing as she belted a two-run opposite field walk-off homerun that sent the tournament bracket to the 15
th and final game.
In the first game, the two clubs combined to for 19 hits as SAU led with 11, while the two teams also combined to strand 19 baserunners, including each team leaving the bases loaded once, courtesy of quality pitching and superb defense.
In the Championship Game, the Lady Muleriders relied on Jenkins who received the start in the circle after picking up her first win of the year in the game before. Jenkins was dominant in her first start of the season as the junior tossed a complete-game shutout, scattering four hits, while striking out five.
The SAU offense supplied more than enough run support for Jenkins as the Lady Muleriders plated three runs in the first inning, two runs in the third and a pair of runs in the fifth.
Dow, after cranking out the walk-off dinger in the previous game, left the yard in her first at-bat in the title game as her three-run homerun out to leftfield gave Southern Arkansas a 3-0 lead and the rest of the momentum. Dow added another RBI in the third inning as a walk scored Hudgins, before a double by
Ashton Atwell resulted in
Darian Harris scoring on a throwing error. The final run came in the next at-bat as Atwell raced home on a wild-pitch to give Southern Arkansas a 7-0 lead that they would not relinquish.
SAU's seven runs in the title game came off of eight hits, while Harding collected just four hits.
Hudgins and
Darian Harris led Southern Arkansas with four hits each and Dow and
Brooke Goad added three. Dow tallied six RBI on the day with four coming in the championship game, while Atwell and Casada collected an RBI each.
Four players were named to the 2016 GAC All-Tournament team lead by Dow who claimed MVP honors after going 2-for-5 with six RBI on "Championship Sunday." The Bonham, Texas, native finished the six-game tournament hitting .278 with five hits and five runs scored. Four of her five hits went for extra bases as she blasted three home runs to finish with eight RBI and a slugging percentage of .833.
Casada, a native of Rowlett, Texas, claimed All-Tournament honors after leading Southern Arkansas with a .412 batting average (7-for-17). She collected seven hits, four RBI and a pair of runs scored. Harris, a Brazoria, Texas, native was selected to the team after posting a .381 average with eight hits, five runs scored and three RBI.
In the circle, Beasley, a native of Foreman, Arkansas, garnered All-Tournament Team honors after posting a 2-1 record and a 1.46 ERA. She appeared in four games, started three, and tossed 24.0 innings. Beasley powered through a 12-inning affair to earn a win over East Central and finished the tournament with 13 strikeouts.
Southern Arkansas will play on Thursday, May 5 with location and opponent still to be determined. The NCAA Regional Tournaments consist of two four-team double-elimination regionals hosted by the one and two seeds. The winners of the four-team regional tournaments square off in a super-regional at the site of the highest seed with a trip to Denver, Colorado, and the NCAA DII College World Series on the line.
Be sure to check www.MuleriderAthletics.com or follow us on Twitter @MuleriderSports for the most up-to-date news on Lady Mulerider Softball, including continuing coverage of Southern Arkansas' postseason run.
