JOPLIN, Mo. - Sydney Ward showed up. She also showed out. Southern Arkansas' sophomore right hander went the distance against the defending national champions allowing only four hits and working around three walks, while fanning seven and her offense delivered five big runs in a shutout victory over (3)/#14 Rogers State in the opening round of the NCAA Central Region Tournament in Joplin, Missouri.
The Muleriders (42-13) advance in the winners bracket and will face (2)/#13 Missouri Southern at 2:30 p.m. on Friday with a berth in the Sub Region 2 title game on the line.
Ward stranded RSU base runners in every inning but the fourth as she worked a 1-2-3 frame. She faced just six over the minimum and struck out two of the final three batters she faced to put away the Hillcats in a rematch of the two clubs from a February 18 meeting; a 3-2 RSU win in Oklahoma City.
Southern Arkansas pushed across all the runs it would need in support of Ward in the second inning. SAU manufactured four runs on four hits off of RSU starter Jade Sanders.
Scoring opened with a one-out single up the middle off the bat of Courtney Storey that scored Emily Shipman. Alyssa Miller earned a walk to load the bases and with two outs, Regan Dillon delivered a clutch piece of contact, laying a pitch out to right field to clear the bases and push SAU up 4-0.
For good measure, Miller plated Shipman on a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.
Mariah Hamilton recorded three of SAU's seven hits and one of the two doubles, Shipman scored two of the five runs with Dillon's three-run base knock serving as the difference.
