Arkansas Tech University made its 2017 softball home debut by winning 3-of-4 games during a Great American Conference series against Ouachita Baptist University at the Chartwells Women’s Sports Complex in Russellville on Friday and Saturday.
The Golden Suns (13-7 overall, 7-1 GAC) will visit Henderson State University for a four-game GAC series in Arkadelphia on Friday, March 10, and Saturday, March 11.
Game One: OBU 6, Tech 4
Four runs in the top of the first inning gave Ouachita Baptist a lead it never relinquished in a 6-4 victory over Arkansas Tech in the series opener on Friday.
Daniella Brantley hit a two-run home run and Halley Ryburn clubbed a two-run double to give the Lady Tigers their early advantage.
A pair of runs batted from Cara Tolar and one RBI apiece by Sarah Coronado and Megan Goodnight pulled the Golden Suns within 6-4 after five innings.
Tech loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but OBU reliever Macy Nantz was able to get a strikeout and a fly out to secure her second save of the season.
Ouachita starting pitcher Kelsey O’Brien (5-3) allowed four runs on eight hits. She pitched six innings.
Tolar (1-1) took the loss in the circle. She allowed the Lady Tigers’ four first-inning runs.
Game Two: Tech 6, OBU 3
A four-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning allowed Arkansas Tech to complete a come-from-behind 6-3 victory over Ouachita Baptist in Friday’s second game.
The Lady Tigers struck first for a second consecutive game. Brantley hit a two-run single and Paige Purifoy drove in one run with a single to give OBU a 3-0 edge.
Goodnight sliced into Ouachita’s lead with a solo home run in the third inning and an RBI single in the fourth.
That set the stage for Sarah LaChance, who led off the bottom of the sixth with a home run to tie the score at 3-3, and Coronado, who put the Suns in front to stay with a two-out RBI single to right field.
Sydnie Henson scored on a wild pitch and Tolar had an RBI single later in the inning to set what proved to be the final score.
Jalissa Gum (4-3) pitched a complete game for Tech. She allowed three runs on four hits and recorded seven strikeouts.
OBU starter Marissa Butler (3-3) surrendered six runs on nine hits in five and two-thirds innings.
Game Three: Tech 5, OBU 0
Gum pitched a three-hit shutout to highlight Arkansas Tech’s 5-0 win over Ouachita Baptist in Saturday’s first game.
The senior from Red Rock, Okla., struck out 12 Lady Tigers while improving to 5-3 in 2017.
Goodnight hit a three-run home run, Gum blasted a solo home run and Ashton Sangster had an RBI single.
O’Brien (5-4) went the distance in the circle for OBU. She allowed five runs on four hits.
Game Four: Tech 9, OBU 1
Fourteen base hits, six of which went for extra base hits, allowed Arkansas Tech to defeat Ouachita Baptist 9-1 in a mercy-rule shortened series finale on Saturday.
Janie Knowles, Coronado and Goodnight led the Golden Suns’ onslaught with two RBIs apiece. Knowles smashed two solo home runs and LaChance hit one round-tripper.
Tech starting pitcher Morgan Vaughan (5-1) pitched four shutout innings.
Nantz (2-3) started in the circle for the Lady Tigers and surrendered four runs on six hits in two innings.
