BENTONVILLE, Ark. – Taking on Ouachita Baptist University in the first round of the Great American Conference Tournament, head coach Jason Anderson and the Southern Arkansas University Mulerider softball team saw a great relief outing from GAC Newcomer of the Year Kiana Pogroszewski, as they took down the Tiers 5-1 to advance to the semifinals. SAU will take on the winner of Harding and Southeastern Oklahoma tomorrow at 1:30 p.m.

SAU drew first blood as they were able to jump out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Tiare Lee reached on a fielding error by the pitcher to start the game and was able to advance to second on a groundout. Jaxynn Dyson picked up her first of two hits on the afternoon as she singled into left center to score Lee and put SAU on top early.

After a quiet second inning from both teams, OBU was able to push a run across in the top of the third on a sac fly to tie the game at 1-1, which would be the only Tiger run of the game. The Muleriders responded with two runs in the bottom half to take a 3-1 lead. Jade Miller reached on a fielding error by the second basemen, followed by Dyson's second single of the afternoon to put two runners on. Madison Miller followed Dyson up with a single of her own up the middle which would score J. Miller and put Dyson on third. Dyson was able to come around to score on a Casper groundout to make it 3-1 SAU.

SAU would respond with two more runs in the fourth inning. Taylor Murphy led the inning off with a walk and was pinch ran for by Viviana Zarzoza. Mariah Hamilton reached on a fielding error to put two on, followed by an Alyssa Miller bunt single to load the bases. Zarzoza came around to score on a wild pitch, followed by a Lee sac fly to score Hamilton to bring the game to its final score of 5-1.

SAU finished with six hits in the contest, as Dyson and A. Miller botch collected two base knocks. M. Miller and Hamilton were the two other Muleriders that collected hits. Lee, J. Miller, Dyson, Zarzoza, and Hamilton all scored for SAU.

Sydney Ward got the start in the circle and went 2.0 innings, as she allowed three hits on one run to go along with three strikeouts. Pogroszewski entered in the third inning and dominated from the start, as she retired 11 straight batters from the moment she got in to midway through the sixth inning. KP held the Tigers to just two hits over five innings, while walking none and striking out five batters to pick up her 14^th win of the year and send SAU to the semifinals.