MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The NCAA DII Central Region Tournament is underway and has wrapped up day one as the Muleriders came out victorious in the opening day of the NCAA DII postseason. Southern Arkansas made its fifth acquaintance with the Harding Lady Bisons for the second game of the Magnolia Regional, and in the meeting, the Muleriders came out triumphant over the Lady Bisons for the fifth time this season with a 3-1 final score after storming back late in the contest once again.
Pitching her 27
th complete game of the campaign was senior right-hander
Brinson Rogers, who also picked up win No. 30 this season (30-4) and her fourth against Harding. The Statesboro, Georgia native surrendered four hits, four walks, and her first and only earned run against the Lady Bisons this season. Rogers was also responsible for the fanning of eight Harding batters.
While the bats got hot later in the outing, three Muleriders racked up a pair of hits on the day in
America Rubio,
Jenna Huey, and
Cassidy Lear. Rubio,
Kelsie Adams, and
Madison Dillon were responsible for the group's three runs.
The Harding Lady Bisons did not let the Muleriders' hosting advantage intimidate them one bit as the group looked to apply the pressure on the GAC Pitcher of the Year early and often, with the unit loading the bases in the top of the first inning.
Rogers managed to strand all three runners, and there was not a score until the Lady Bisons' Kaya Lee scored the first run of the game in the top of the third. Lee got on base with the lead-off pitch in the inning and was then advanced to second on a single by Zoey Neal. After a foul out, Jadyn Booth was walked and loaded the bases again for Rogers to deal with. After Lee scored on a sacrifice fly, Rogers struck out the pinch hitter Emma Zaboronek to limit the damage.
No runs were plated until the bottom of the sixth, when the Muleriders found their rhythm. The rhythm was discovered by Ame Rubio with the second-straight lead-off single for SAU. Rubio then advanced to second on an error by the second baseman Zoey Neal. Shortly after,
Kelsie Adams singled to center field and scored Rubio to tie the game and see a slight momentum shift in favor of the Blue and Gold. After the first two outs were recorded and one runner remained on base (Adams),
Jenna Huey singled through the left side to advance Adams to second.
Madison Dillon then came in as a pinch runner for Huey and would advance to second (Adams to third) after
Payton Owens drew a walk to load the bases and put the pressure on Harding pitcher Brooklyn Gobble. The pressure was definitely felt as
Cassidy Lear delivered the fourth hit of the half inning and scored both Adams and Dillon for the two-run lead, 3-1. The Lady Bisons then relieved Gobble for the day and sent out Riley Price to keep Harding's hopes alive, and delivered the third out.
The Lady Bisons' final shot at entering the winners' half of the bracket came in the top of the seventh. Even though she surrendered one hit in the inning, all three outs for Rogers were delivered with one backwards K and a pair of strikeouts swinging.
Next Up
Mulerider Softball has now entered the winners' bracket and will take on the winner of the opening game of the tournament in No. 3-seeded Augustana after the Vikings went ten innings with the Missouri Southern State Lions and pulled out a 2-1 victory over MSSU. Tomorrow's game against Augustana is set to take place at 1:00 PM CST.
