Suns Stun Lady Riders With Series Sweep

The race for the 2019 Great American Conference regular season softball championship became a lot more interesting on Sunday and Monday.

Arkansas Tech University went to Magnolia and swept a four-game GAC series from nationally fourth-ranked Southern Arkansas University, drawing the Golden Suns within a half-game of first place with two weekends remaining in the regular season.

Arkansas Tech (33-13 overall, 27-7 GAC) defeated the Lady Muleriders 3-0, 2-0, 5-3 and 6-5.

Southern Arkansas fell to 37-10 overall and 28-7 in the GAC. It marked the first time in two years that the Lady Muleriders had been swept in a league softball series.

Senior Megan Goodnight became Arkansas Tech’s leader in career runs batted in during game one of the series. Her 141st career RBI exceeded the previous standard established by Tiphani Moon, who recorded 140 RBIs for ATU from 2008-11.

Goodnight’s fellow Arkansas Tech senior, Kristen Dempsey, was named GAC pitcher of the week after she worked six and one-third innings during the series against SAU. She limited the Lady Muleriders to two runs on two hits while striking out eight.

The Golden Suns will play their final eight GAC games of the season at home. Arkansas Tech will host the University of Arkansas-Monticello for a four-game series April 19-20 and Ouachita Baptist University for a four-game series April 26-27.

All eight games will be played at the Chartwells Women’s Sports Complex. Admission will be free.

Game times and live coverage will be available at www.arkansastechsports.com.