MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Mulerider Softball looked to conclude their series with the Henderson State Reddies the way they have been for the past five weekends, with another sweep added to their resume. Southern Arkansas defeated the Reddies for the series sweep and improved its overall record to 29-5 with a 19-1 record in conference play. The group also extended its winning streak to 19 games.
 
Game Three (W, 7-3)
In a very similar fashion to how game two of the series began, HSU took the early lead with a single to right-center field for the 1-0 advantage in the top of the first.
 
The Reddie lead did not last very long however as Regan Dillon stepped to the plate as the Muleriders' lead-off batter and on the very first pitch, the junior from Bryant, Arkansas sailed the ball over the left-center field wall to tie the ballgame at 1-1.
 
The second inning went quiet for both groups as there was just one hit in the entire inning and no crooked numbers hung on the board. After Southern Arkansas saw Henderson State's batters go three-up and three-down in the top of the third, the Blue and Gold broke the silence in the bottom half of the inning with two outs. After the two outs, the Muleriders went back to the top of the lineup where Dillon crushed another hung ball in the zone for her second solo shot of the day and her fourth of the weekend, tying her home runs for the season prior to Saturday. With the home run, the lead was then shifted in SAU's favor at 2-1.
 
Southern Arkansas then began to take full control of the contest as the Muleriders produced another 1-2-3 inning in the top of the fourth and then lit up the scoreboard in the bottom half. After a pitching change to start the half-inning, America Rubio started hot with a double down the left field line followed by a Savannah Clausen bunt that she reached first on and advanced Rubio to third. Kelsie Adams then came up to bat and reached on an errant throw which also scored Rubio for the 3-1 lead. A batter later after Adams advanced to second, Jena Huey drew a 4-0 walk and was followed by Payton Owens singling back to the pitcher to score Clausen and advance the runners to juice the bases with a 4-1 lead. Cassidy Lear then reached on a fielder's choice in which the Reddies threw out Adams at home, but this would be followed by Dillon's third hit of the day with a single through the left side to score Huey and Owens before ending the inning. The Muleriders then led 6-1.
 
SAU shut down the Reddies once more in the top of the fifth and then came swinging again in the bottom of the inning with Kelsie Adams starting it up with two outs as the junior singled up the middle and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Sophia Stoddard then singled to the shortstop and Adams began rounding third with the HSU shortstop throwing home. The Van Alstyne, Texas native made a very impressive maneuver to dodge the tag and scored on the play for the 7-1 lead and the Muleriders' final run scored.
 
Henderson State got the bats going in the top of the sixth after five innings of silence as the group recorded a pair of hits with two walks drawn and two runs scored, but were upended by Brinson Rogers and the Mulerider defense as the group held the lead to 7-3.
 
Southern Arkansas managed to get a runner on base with Dillon getting hit by a pitch but were unable to push any more runs across.
 
Kassie Rhodes entered the circle to close out the game and did just so with just one hit allowed and three outs recorded against the Reddies for the final score of 7-3.
 
Rogers collected her 20^th win of the season, now at 20-2, as the senior pitched for 6.0 innings and struck out seven batters with six hits, three runs, and two walks allowed in the game. The series finale against Henderson State marked the last of March for the Muleriders and also marked the first game since the first of March that Rogers had allowed a run as the Statesboro, Georgia native was riding a runless streak of eleven games (64.0 IP).
 
The highlighted Mulerider for not only the game, but the series goes to Regan Dillon as the junior produced four home runs for the weekend and went 3-for-3 today with two bombs, two runs, four RBI, and was on-base for every time she stepped to the plate.
 
Next Up:
Team 27's next outings have been highly anticipated as the Muleriders are set for their weekend trip to Searcy, Arkansas (April 4-5) for their GAC series at 13^th-ranked Harding for a more secure spot at the top of the Great American Conference standings.