LAWTON, Okla. - The Arkansas Tech softball team splits their mid-week nonconference doubleheader against Cameron University on the road in Oklahoma. The Golden Suns took game one of the afternoon, while the Aggies claimed victory in the second matchup of the day for the split. Following today's action, the Golden Suns are now 22-13 overall on the 2023 season thus far.
GAME ONE
The first game of the day saw the Golden Suns grab victory in a tight eight inning game.
Game one was a duel between starting pitchers as
Bailey Buffington, the starting pitcher in game one for the Golden Suns, hung tough and stayed in the circle all eight innings to pickup her 13th complete game and her eighth shutout performance of the season.
On the game as a whole, Buffington allowed five hits, no runs, walked two and struckout five in her shutout performance in the circle against the Aggies.
The Golden Suns would pickup their first hit of the game in the top of the fourth inning with a single to left field from
Shelby Chavers that would end up putting her in scoring position as she stole second base following her single.
Chavers would have a great game at the plate in game one going 3-for-4.
Through five full innings, neither team was able to put a run on the board as the score remained 0-0 heading into the sixth inning.
In the top of the sixth, the Golden Suns would collect their second and third hits of the game off back-to-back leadoff singles from
Brooke Prewitt and Chavers that would start the inning strong. The Aggies would collect themselves on defense and keep the score 0-0 through to the seventh inning.
Heading into the bottom of the seventh, the game stayed at a 0-0 stalemate as Buffington looked to give her team another chance on offense in extra innings. Buffington would answer that call and collect three straight outs to send the game to extra innings heading into the top of the eighth.
Tech would finally break through the Aggie starting pitcher with a huge leadoff double by Chavers that would put her in scoring position on second base.
Makenzie Goins would push ahead Chavers to third on a sacrifice bunt and
Makenzie Addis would deliver the blow that would win the game with a sacrifice flyout to centerfield to score Chavers and give the Golden Suns a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth.
Buffington would quickly end the Aggies in the bottom of the frame retiring three straight hitters to give her team the 1-0 win in game one of the day.
GAME TWO
In the second game of the day, both teams would find some offense and battle down to the end of the game. Getting the start in the circle for Tech in game two was
Bradi Basler.
Cameron would strike the scoreboard first in the bottom of the second inning with a double to centerfield that scored a runner at second base to give them an early 1-0 advantage after two full innings of play as the game headed into the top of the third.
To begin the top of the third, the Aggies would give up a leadoff walk to Prewitt who would then score off an RBI double by Chavers, her fourth hit of the day, to tie the game at 1-1.
As the top of the third continued, Goins would advance Chavers to within striking distance at third with a sac bunt. The Golden Suns would then grab the lead as Addis hit a sac fly out to left field to let Chavers strike home plate and give Arkansas Tech a 2-1 lead in game two.
In the bottom of the frame, Basler would get three straight outs to quickly send back out the Tech offense for the top of the fourth inning.
The Aggies would do the same thing in the top of the frame and collect three straight outs to send out their offense for the bottom of the fourth.
Cameron would go on to score three runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 4-2 lead as the game headed into the fifth inning.
Kaila Cartwright would replace Basler in the circle to start the bottom of the fifth and would close out the game there.
The Golden Suns would tack on their final run of the game and afternoon in the top of the sixth. The inning would begin with Goins reaching first on a throwing error by the Aggie third baseman and would then advance to second on the error.
Dani Lindsey would be the one to drive in the final run of the game with an RBI single up the middle that gave Goins enough space to round third and strike home to make it a one run game down just 3-4 after six innings.
In the top of the seventh,
Kassie Mayberry would hit a leadoff single to left field to give the Golden Suns a chance to try and keep the game going. Following Mayberry's single,
Sydney Keaton would come in to pinch hit for
Kaylyn Aguirre and would advance Mayberry to second on a sac bunt. After reaching second,
Arissa Harrish would replace Mayberry at second as a pinch runner.
Prewitt would bust a single to left center to reach base, but Harrish would hold at second. Chavers would groundout, but would advance both runners ahead to put both in scoring position at second and third base with two outs. The Aggies would hold on and survive the close and tense final moments of the game and escape with the narrow 4-3 win in game two to force a split doubleheader with the Golden Suns.
UP NEXT
The Golden Suns return to Great American Conference action this weekend as they host Arkansas-Monticello for a weekend conference series at the Chartwells Women's Sports Complex. The series against the Cotton Blossoms is set to begin on Friday with a 4 p.m. first pitch, while the series will wrap up on Saturday with a doubleheader set to start at noon at the Chartwells Complex.
