BENTONVILLE, Ark. - After hanging tough with some of the best teams in the country last weekend at the Arkansas Tech Winter Invitational, the Arkansas Tech Softball team erupts on offense  to put up a combined 30 runs over Quincy and Missouri-St. Louis to sweep the opening double header of the UAM 8-State Classic. The Golden Suns shut out Quincy 10-0 in a five-inning run rule. The win over Quincy was just the start of the hot play at the plate as Tech took down Missouri-St. Louis 20-1 in another five-inning run rule. The Golden Suns move to 4-4 overall on the season.

GAME ONE
Against Quincy, Bailey Buffington got things rolling on the mound for the Golden Suns as she struck out three of her first four hitters to bring them out on offense. Shelby Chavers led off the game with a walk, then quickly stole second base to get herself into scoring position with Tymber Riley at the plate. Riley didn't waste much time continuing her hot streak of doubles as she crushed her ninth double of the season and picked up the first RBI of the game as Chavers scored from second to give the Golden Suns their first run of many on the day.

Once again Buffington put in work on the mound quickly putting Tech back on offense after three straight strikeouts to put her at six for the game. Jessica Williams started the bottom of the second for the Golden Suns with a walk. Kassie Mayberry would advance to first on a fielders choice as Williams was thrown out at second. Back at the top of the order, Chavers would pick up another walk moving Mayberry to second base with Makenzie Goins headed to the plate. Goins would deliver sending a bomb over the wall for a three-run homerun to extend the Arkansas Tech lead 4-1 over Quincy.

Buffington would send the first bat in the top of the third back to the dugout, but the Hawks would find their one and only hit of the day with a double. In the bottom of the frame with two outs, Makenzie Addis would keep the hot bats rolling with a double to give the Golden Suns their third hit of the day.

In the top of the fourth, Buffington would see her final inning of action putting two outs in play and collecting her eighth and final strikeout of the game. Mayberry got things started for Tech in the bottom with a leadoff single. Following an error by the Quincy second baseman, Chavers would reach first base and Mayberry would land safely at second. Quincy would load the bases for the Golden Suns after walking Riley which brought Goins back up to bat. After her three-run bomb in the bottom of the second, Goins would give Arkansas Tech another big time hit with a single that got Riley to third and brought Chavers and Mayberry back home to score to stretch the lead over Quincy to 6-0. Following a walk for Caitlyn Wells, Brooke Prewitt would take the plate and send out a single scoring all three Tech baserunners to take a commanding 9-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth.

Still in the bottom of the frame, the Golden Suns would bring in some pinch hitters. Savannah Snow would head to the plate pinch hitting for Addis and would ground out to third, but not before Prewitt could reach second base. Pinch hitting for Williams, Arissa Harrish scored Prewitt on a single to collect the eighth and final hit alongside the tenth and final run in the game for the Golden Suns.

In the fifth and final inning, Maddy Prough would replace the winning pitcher Buffington on the mound . Prough quickly closed out the game striking out the first three Quincy hitters lifting the Golden Suns to their first run rule of the day with the 10-0 win.

GAME TWO
Riding the 10-0 shut out win over Quincy, the Golden Suns rocketed to an even higher level in their second game against the Missouri-St. Louis Tritons. 

The Golden Suns closed out the second game before it could really even begin. Everything started with singles by Chavers and Riley. Goins would follow with a single of her own and would advance to second base on the throw with Chavers touching home plate to put the first run of the game on the board, which brought up Wells to the plate. The hot hitting continued to spread across the board as Wells crushed a long three-run bomb to put Tech up 4-0 in the bottom of the first with no outs.

Prewitt would walk bringing up Holly Crutchfield to the plate to smack the second homerun of the inning and give the Golden Suns a monster 6-0 lead as the bottom of the first inning continued with no outs collected for the Tritons. Addis would take her base after a hit by pitch and would advance to second following a hit by pitch for Mayberry, bringing back up the top of the order for Tech.

Back at the top of the order, Chavers would connect for the third homer of the game and bottom of the first inning tacking on three more runs for a 9-0 Golden Sun lead. Following a hit by pitch for Riley and a walk for Goins, Wells once again destroyed a long ball for her second homerun of the inning and the fourth total homer for Arkansas Tech giving them a commanding 12-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. The Golden Suns still had room for one more trick up the sleeve of their hot hitting magic as Crutchfield sent the fifth and final homerun and her second homerun of the inning over the wall to put the cherry on top of an absolutely astounding 13-run inning in the bottom of the first.

The top of the second would see the first hit for the Tritons as they would find a double, but would be unable to score a run. The bottom frame would see Arkansas Tech collect five more runs off three consecutive homeruns with Riley hitting a three-run long ball, followed by a homerun for Goins and one more for Wells who added her third homer of the game to give them a devastating 18-0 lead over Missouri-St. Louis.

The Tritons would grab a pair of singles in the top of the third, but would once again find themselves unable to put any runs on the board. Missouri-St. Louis would finally hold off the hot bats of Arkansas Tech in the bottom of the third not letting them score any runs.

A single by the Tritons would set up a scoring opportunity late in the fourth inning but would result in no runs once again as the Golden Suns would throw the runner out at home plate. The Golden Suns would take a bow in the bottom of the fourth inning, but not before adding the final two runs of the day to the board. Coming to the plate in place of Riley was Abigail Lochala who crushed a leadoff triple. In to replace Goins was Zoe Lott who hit a single to tack on the fourteenth hit of the game. Pinch hitting for Wells was Kacie Gibbins who sent Lott home to score with a single. The final run of the game would be scored off Lexi Gorniak who was pinch hitting for Prewitt with a fly out to right field that allowed Lott to cross home plate to give the Golden Suns a 20-0 lead.

Missouri-St. Louis would record their fifth and final hit of the day off a single in the top of the fifth. The Tritons would also score their only run of the afternoon following an error by Chloe Bryant that allowed their runner at third to score and prevent the Golden Suns from collecting their second shut out of the day. Arkansas Tech would still walk out with their second run-rule of the day defeating Missouri-St.Louis 20-1.

On the mound for the Golden Suns against the Tritons was Shannon Lasey who put in three innings of work with one strikeout to pick up the win. Kaila Cartwright would pickup the workload from Lasey for the final two innings recording a strikeout.