MONTICELLO, Ark.- Following a split doubleheader yesterday afternoon, the Arkansas Tech softball team carries the hot bats from game two into game three to knock off Arkansas-Monticello 6-1 and claim the 2-1 conference series victory on the road. The Golden Suns move to 16-11 overall and own a 7-4 record against Great American Conference opponents.
In the top of the first inning,
Tymber Riley got things going for the Golden Suns with a single to left field to put up the first hit of the game. Riley managed to book it to second and pick up her first stolen base of the season.
Caitlyn Wells followed smashing a single of her own to left field advancing Riley to third base as
Kassie Mayberry stepped up to the plate. Mayberry hit a sacrifice fly to center field, but picked up the RBI as Riley scored the first run of the game for the Golden Suns. Following the end of the top of the first inning, Tech held a 1-0 lead over Arkansas-Monticello.
The Cotton Blossoms got their offense going with a single down the left field line. Tech walked the next batter putting two on and another single from Arkansas-Monticello would put runners at first at second, but a great throw by
Sydney Keaton in left field to catcher
Savannah Snow at home plate would get the runner out at home to put away the inning and keep a 1-0 lead.
Both the Golden Suns and Cotton Blossoms stayed quite offensively until the top of the fifth inning. Leading off for Tech in the top of the fifth was Keaton who blasted a leadoff homerun over the left field wall to extend the lead to 2-0 over Arkansas-Monticello. The homer from Keaton would be the only run scored by Tech in the fifth as they continued to hold Arkansas-Monticello scoreless. In the bottom of the fifth for Arkansas-Monticello, they managed to pick up a single to third base but were unable to produce anything else.
The Golden Suns quickly found themselves in an early hole to start the top of the sixth inning as the Cotton Blossoms managed to pick up two quick outs. They would walk
Makenzie Goins however, which brought
Holly Crutchfield to the plate. Crutchfield delivered a big-time double down the left field line to advance Goins to third and give Arkansas Tech two runners in scoring position with two outs.
Still in the top of the fifth, Keaton followed Crutchfield with her second big smash of the day with a single to the Arkansas-Monticello pitcher scoring Goins to pick up her second RBI on the day. The final blow to the Cotton Blossoms came from Snow who demolished a three-run homer over the left field wall to bring in Crutchfield, Keaton and herself for the final three runs that gave the Golden Suns the 6-1 victory and the 2-1 series win.
Starting in the circle for the Golden Suns was
Shannon Lasey who picked up the win and moves to 6-4 on the season. Lasey collected two strikeouts in her 3.0 innings.
Bailey Buffington replaced Lasey to start the top of the fourth inning and recorded three strikeouts in her 3.0 innings of work. Closing out the game in the circle for the Golden Suns was
Kaila Cartwright who once again delivered down the stretch as she struckout one and put the other two outs in play in her 1.0 relief inning.
UP NEXT
The Golden Suns stay on the road as they travel across the state line for their next three-game conference series against Southern Nazarene in Bethany, Okla.. The weekend series is scheduled to begin on Friday, Mar. 18 with first pitch slated for 3 p.m. on Friday. The series will conclude with doubleheader action the next day with first pitch set to go at noon on Saturday in Bethany.
