RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — Morgan Vaughan twirled a gem of a game and the Arkansas Tech softball team's offense got things back into gear as the Golden Suns responded to a 5-1 loss to Harding with a dominant 5-1 victory over the Bisons to split the first round of the Great American Conference series Tuesday evening at Chartwells Women's Sports Complex.

Vaughan allowed just a lone run, scattering five hits while walking none and striking out five as the Golden Suns (19-7, 10-4 GAC) bounced back from a Game 1 defeat to the Bisons (8-18, 3-9 GAC). Alexa Wimberly and Janie Knowles each popped a pair of hits and scored a run in the second game, with Knowles reaching base all three times she stepped to the plate and adding an RBI in her second start of the season. Jalissa Gum had a pair of hits in the opener and added a double in the nightcap for a three-hit day.

The Tech bats didn't wait long to get started in the second game of the evening, ripping off four runs on four hits in the bottom of the first inning. Alex Edinger got things going in the leadoff spot, reaching on an error, then Wimberly beat out a bunt single down the third base line to get two on. Gum knocked in the game's first run with a double down the line in left to score Edinger, and when a Miranda Dupree ball got past the Harding infielder on an error, both Wimberly and Gum came around to score. Knowles added a double down the left field line to score Dupree and quickly make it 4-0.

Vaughan faced just one batter over the minimum over the first five innings, tossing perfect frames in the first, third and fifth. She allowed an infield single in the second that she quickly eliminated with a strikeout and groundout, and a double play in the fourth erased another single. The freshman worked out of her only bit of trouble in the sixth, when Harding scored its lone run, but struck out the final batter looking to get out of the threat. After sitting for nearly 45 minutes while her team batted and the two sides dealt with a 30-minute lightning delay, she worked around a leadoff error with a pair of strikeouts and a ground out to end it in the seventh.

Working around that delay, the Golden Suns scored an insurance run in the sixth, as Knowles drew a one-out walk, moved up as Shanna Davidson reached on an error, and came around to score on Edinger's infield single to make it 5-1.

The Tech offense wasn't as effective in the first game of the day, connecting on five this and drawing six walks, but scoring only one run as they saw their five-game GAC winning streak snapped. The Suns have still won six out of their past seven against league foes, and are 9-3 in their last 12 games overall. Gum was 2-for-4 in that first game, while Whitney Robinson and Ashley Savage each had a base hit as well. Courtney Colunga added a hit as well, knocking in Davidson — who walked to lead off the bottom of the third — for Tech's only run.

The Golden Suns will have a quick turnaround, coming back to Chartwells at 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon for a Central Region doubleheader against Northeastern State.