MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The momentum keeps on rolling for Head Coach Jason Anderson's Muleriders as they secured game one the Great American Conference series against the Harding Lady Bisons.
 
Southern Arkansas now moves on to 13-4 for the 2024 season with a new 4-0 record within league play. With the loss, Harding now declines to 8-9 and continues searching for their first conference victory in the campaign (0-4).
 
The Muleriders' Sydney Ward pitched her third complete game for the spring as she allowed just four hits, one earned run, one walk, and recorded seven strikeouts against 26 batters. Of the senior's four surrendered hits, the first came from the Lady Bisons' three-hole Jordan Cabana as she accounted for the evening's sole homerun with two outs in the top of the first. Ward nearly locked down the HU offense following dinger as she shutout her opposition for the remainder of the game and allowed just three more hits. With the win through complete game number three, the native of Paris, Arkansas is now 6-1 in 2024.
 
Highlighting the Mulerider offense, and lighting up the Lady Bisons defense, was the senior Kamryn Moctezuma as she was responsible for batting average of 1.000 going 4-4 and recording a pair of runners batted in. The native of Yuma, Arizona recorded just one extra base hit, in which she doubled into center field to bat in Ariana Rolle to break a tie in the bottom of the fifth. Moctezuma's fourth and final hit of the evening was the final nail in the coffin as she singled to third base to then plate Rolle once more to advance the score to 5-1 in the bottom of the sixth.
 
Rolle herself had the second-best batting average of the starting lineup as she recorded a couple hits on three at-bats and was plated twice due to two of the four Moctezuma hits. Sophomore Regan Dillon had herself a couple of RBIs with both coming in the bottom of the sixth as she doubled down the left field line with the bases loaded. Off the double, Dillon plated Bella Angelo and Ava Dunn to increase the Muleriders' advantage 4-1.
 
With it being mentioned a couple of times, the bottom of the sixth turned out to be the turning-point of the evening as Southern Arkansas hung three runs in the half inning, but did so following two outs from the first two batters. Angelo shifted the momentum into gear with a single up the middle which was then succeeded by a single though the right side by Mackensie Baldwin for her fourth start of the season. With runners on first and second, Rolle then bunted to load the bags for the Muleriders with Dillon and Moctezuma coming up next.
 
Southern Arkansas continues play at the Margaret Downing Softball Complex with the series doubleheader being set for high noon. The Muleriders look to stay in their groove as they attempt to stay undefeated within the GAC. For more information on upcoming events, check out www.MuleriderAthletics.com