MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Behind solid defense, pitching and offensive production, the No. 8-ranked Lady Mulerider softball team swept Friday's GAC doubleheader at home over Southwestern Oklahoma after a 6-1 final decision in game one followed by a 7-run fifth inning in game two that allowed Southern Arkansas to secure the win in run-rule fashion, 8-0. 
 
 
TEAM RECORDS 
(#8) Southern Arkansas Lady Muleriders (23-3, 12-2 GAC)
Southwestern Oklahoma Lady Bulldogs (1-21, 1-13 GAC)
 
PITCHING DECISIONS – GAME 1
W – Victoria Taylor (9-0)
L – Rileigh Ricken (0-8)
S – None
 
GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS & HAPPENINGS

• A pair of walks delivered to the Lady Muleriders and a fielding error in the bottom of the first inning loaded the bases for Megan Godoyo as the senior drew the third walk of the frame to plate SAU's first run, 1-0.
• Southern Arkansas benefitted from the long-ball in the second inning after tacking on four additional runs on a pair of home runs and a double, all with two outs, to take a 5-0 lead over the Lady Bulldogs.
• Rachel Miller scratched SAU's first run in that frame on a 2-out solo blast out to centerfield. Brooke Goad was issued a walk to follow and eventually swiped second base to place herself in scoring position for Monica Islava at the dish who would subsequently trade places with Goad on an RBI double in the right-centerfield gap that made it 3-0.
• Faith Otts left the yard a batter later with a 2-run shot over left-center field that extended the Lady Mulerider lead out to 5-0 in the bottom of the second.
• Southwestern Oklahoma tallied their one and only run of the contest in the top of the fifth inning as they loaded the bases on a lead-off single, a walk and an infield single, and would later score on an RBI groundout to second base that made it 5-1.
• SAU added one last insurance run in the bottom of the sixth courtesy of Otts' RBI single through the right side of the field that pushed the Lady Mulerider advantage to 6-1 as SAU was able to secure the win in the seventh after the Lady Bulldogs stranded a pair on the base paths that led to the 6-1 final decision.

 
IN THE CIRCLE

• Victoria Taylor pitched her eighth complete game this season for the Lady Muleriders as the sophomore picked up her ninth win in the circle this year for SAU after allowing just one run on seven hits in the contest with four strikeouts.
•  Ricken recorded the loss for SWOSU in the circle after giving up six runs on five hits to the Lady Muleriders, including eight walks.

AT THE PLATE

• Otts led with 3 RBI as the sophomore went 2-for-3 at the plate with a walk to power the SAU offense
• Miller, Islava, and Godoyo each tallied an RBI in the contest, and Miller was the only other Lady Mulerider to record extra base hits in the contest as she went 2-for-3 at the dish with a pair of runs scored and a walk.

PITCHING DECISIONS – GAME 2
W – Brooke Ford-Nelson (7-2)
L – Sidney Kirk (1-7)
S – None
 
GAME 2 HIGHLIGHTS & HAPPENINGS

• The Lady Mulerider bats got started late in game two as they got on the board in the bottom of the third, 1-0, via a solo bomb off the bat of freshman Sarah Pitre.
• The Lady Bulldogs would put the tying run on base in the following two innings, but SAU's starting pitcher Brooke Ford-Nelson kept the Lady Muleriders in the game with a lights-out performance in the circle that allowed SAU's offense to put the game away in the bottom of the fifth.
• The Lady Muleriders loaded the bases quickly in that frame after SWOSU's pitcher hit the first two batters in the Lady Mulerider lineup followed by a fielding error that set up SAU's big fifth inning.
• Base hits from Otts, Kiara Bonner, Maeson Grace, and Pitre, including a sacrifice fly off the bat of Marina Duran quickly prompted a 6-0 lead with one out for the Lady Muleriders in the bottom of the fifth.
• Miller, who led-off the beginning of that frame for SAU with a hit-by-pitch, put the game away in her second at-bat of the inning after she laced a 2-out double into the left-center field gap that plated a pair of runs and gave SAU the walk-off win in the inning with a 8-0 final score.

 
IN THE CIRCLE

• Ford-Nelson collected her seventh win of the season in the circle for SAU behind a dominant performance that saw her mark a new career-high record of eight strikeouts through five innings of work.
• Ford-Nelson's previous career-high strikeout record of six strikeouts this season was done in eight innings pitched.
• This is the second-straight start for Ford-Nelson where she has shutout the opposing offense.

AT THE PLATE

• Pitre and Miller both led SAU with a pair of RBIs apiece.
• Pitre and Grace were both 2-for-3 at the plate as they both combined for three runs scored and three RBI in the game
• Otts, Bonner, and Duran each tallied an RBI and a hit in the contest

UP NEXT
The Lady Muleriders conclude the 4-game GAC series tomorrow with Southwestern Oklahoma with a doubleheader slated for 11 a.m. at Dawson Field.