RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — Jalissa Gum and Kambri Hill had two-hit games in the opener, while Ashley Savage and Shanna Davidson had a pair of hits in the nightcap as the Arkansas Tech Golden Suns softball team (30-12, 17-9 Great American Conference) swept a pair from Ouachita Baptist, winning the opener 5-3 before taking a 7-2 win in the nightcap.

Game 1 starter Sydnee Clark breezed through the first two innings, and the first hit of the game she allowed — with one out in the third — was quickly erased as Courtney Colunga threw the OBU runner out trying to steal. Neither team got much going offensively through the first three frames, with the Tigers getting the bats working to start the fourth. A walk followed by two singles loaded the bases for the guests, but, with a 3-0 count on the next batter, Clark induced a groundball and Gum started a slick double play to get out of the jam with no damage done.

With the momentum on their side, the Golden Suns got to work in the bottom of the fourth, as Alex Edinger singled and stole second with one out, advancing to third on a wild pitch before Gum knocked her in with a single up the middle. Hill added another single, but as Ashley Savage walked to load the bases, Gum was caught hanging a little too far off third base and was picked off by the OBU catcher to end the threat.

After a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the fifth from Clark, the Tech offense tacked another run on, as Davidson beat out an infield single with two outs, stole second and scored on Whitney Robinson's single to right field. Ouachita got on the board in the sixth, but the Suns answered with some crucial insurance runs, as Gum's second hit of the day was a double that led off the bottom half. Hill followed with a single, and Gum would score as an OBU outfielder dropped a flyball. With runners on second and third, Alicia Lowrey smacked a hard-hit ball to short that resulted in an error and two more runs, which made the score 5-1. Those runs came up big, as the guests picked up a two-run home run in the top of the seventh before Kelsie Barker ended the comeback attempt.

In the nightcap, OBU starter Delaney Bedunah and Victoria Huie were solid in the opener, cruising through the first two innings. Davidson put the Golden Suns on the board, blasting a solo homer with two outs in the bottom of the third. That was the first hit for the Golden Suns, who would pound out three more hits in the fourth to extend the lead. Hill squeezed home another run in the fourth, followed by a two-run single by Savage that saw the Golden Suns stretch their lead to 4-0.

OBU came back in the fifth, using a homer and a throwing error to pull to within 4-2. However, the Golden Suns used another big inning, with an RBI single by Miranda Dupree, an RBI double by Shanna Davidson, and an RBI single by Robinson to claim a 7-2 advantage. Meanwhile, reliever Morgan Vaughan closed out her perfect 2.1 innings of work to pick up her second save of the season.

Huie picked up her tenth win of the season, improving to 10-4 after scattering seven hits over 4.2 innings of work and allowing two runs, only one of which were earned.
The Golden Suns and Tigers conclude their four-game set with a noon doubleheader on Saturday.