MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Series number ten in the Great American Conference is a wrap, and the brooms were brought out of the closet on Dawson Field inside the Dr. Margaret Downing Softball Complex, as the ninth-ranked Muleriders easily fended off the Arkansas-Monticello Cotton Blossoms with a five-inning run-rule shutout victory of 13-0.
 
Game Three | W, 13-0 (5 inn.)
In the final bout of April 2026, Mulerider Softball dominated play against the group's in-state rival, as Emma Duncan recorded her 29^th start this season, and reached the quarter-century mark in wins for the campaign, now at 25-2. In the series finale, Duncan pitched 4.0 innings, allowed just two hits with four walks, while also fanning eight batters in the process. To close out the contest, Libby May pitched the top of the fifth and went on to complete the combined shutout.
 
Southern Arkansas once again got off to an incredibly hot start, as the group went through the whole lineup in the bottom of the first, ending with America Rubio's second at-bat of the frame. To begin the action for the Blue and Gold, Maddie Leal started the bottom half of the first with a 3-2 single through the right side. Sophia Luetticke then reached with a catcher's interference called at the plate. The next pitch of the frame to Ame Rubio, and she then sent the ball just over the left center field wall for a three-run dinger to start SAU's scoring frenzy, SAU up 3-0.
Next to the plate with the bases cleared, Regan Dillon reached on an error by the second baseman, and Paris Endris followed with a walk. Brooklyn Reed came up and loaded the bases with a single to the third baseman. Sending home an unearned run for Dillon was Payton Owens, as the senior drew the second walk of the frame, 4-0.
Batting in two more runs was AvaMarie Perry, with the Pleasanton, California native singling up the middle to bat in Endris and Reed for the final runs of the inning, 6-0.
 
After the first, both groups looked to get back in their groove offensively, and it seemed Arkansas-Monticello was going to first in the top of the fourth, as the unit loaded the bases in the frame with just one hit, but Duncan and her fellow Muleriders shut down the group's efforts with the Canadian's eighth-waved batter of the outing.
 
While the Cotton Blossoms' momentum got stumped by the Blue and Gold, Southern Arkansas came out in the bottom of the fourth with the aim of putting the ballgame completely out of range. To start, Rubio led off with a walk and made her way to second on a Dillon single. After Leigha Gilbert came in to pinch run for Dillon at first, Paris Endris hit an Eiffel-tower-sized bomb over the left center field wall, leaving no doubt for another three-run dinger, 9-0.
Up next came Reed, as the senior went on to bunt for a single to the pitcher. Reed then turned on the gas around the bases with an Owens' double, as Reed scored for the 10-0 advantage. Perry followed Owens with a double of her own, batting in Owens for an 11-0 lead. Following the first out of the frame, Leal singled up the middle and advanced to second on a throw, putting two runners in scoring position. Both runners then scored on a single from Luetticke, for the final of 13-0.
 
Up Next:
Southern Arkansas now looks forward to the regular season finale, as the No. 9 Muleriders get set for a top-three matchup with the 24^th-ranked Oklahoma Baptist Bison at Dawson Field inside the Dr. Margaret Downing Softball Complex. That series is scheduled for May 1-2.