EDMOND, Okla. – A day after having both of their game canceled due to frigid temperatures, the Arkansas Tech softball team concluded their time at the Raising Cane's Softball Festival unbeaten in three tries with a 9-7 win over Missouri S&T on Sunday afternoon.
Sunday's finale got off to a quick start for the Golden Suns as they retired the Miners in order in the top of the first and pushed across their first run in the bottom of the inning. In that first,
Kaylyn Aguirre led off with walk and was quickly moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by
Lexi Gorniak.
Two batters later, the bases were loaded after
Savannah Snow reached on a fielding error by the S&T shortstop and
Dani Lindsey was walked. With the bases loaded,
Sydney Keaton picked up an RBI as she also drew a walk to force in Aguirre.
Neither team scored in the second, but Missouri S&T plated three runs on three hits in the top of the third to take a 3-1 lead. That lead was short-lived as the Golden Suns responded with two runs in the bottom of the frame. The first run scored that inning came on a RBI double by Keaton.
Maycie Hardy then followed in the next at-bat with a RBI single to second base.
In the fourth, the Golden Suns regained the lead on a single to left by Aguirre scored
Shelby Chavers, who tripled in the previous at-bat. A half-inning later, S&T had tied the game, but the Golden Suns once more responded in their next trips to the plate, this time scoring three runs on three hits in the bottom of the fifth.
In that inning, both Keaton and Hardy collected RBIs once more while the third run was driven in by Chavers.
The back-and-forth nature of the game continued in the top of the sixth with the Miners scoring three runs themselves to tie the game once again, this time at seven-all.
In the home half of the sixth, the Golden Suns loaded the bases with no outs but were in danger of not scoring with a pair of pop outs. Fortunately, however, the Golden Suns were able to get the clutch hit as Abagail Lochala drove in two runs on an infield single to second base.
With the lead once more, the Golden Suns retired the Miners in order in an uneventful top of the seventh inning to close out the win.
Pitching for the Golden Suns in that seventh inning was
Ella Thornley, who earned her first win of the season after she initially came on to pitch in the top of the sixth.
The Golden Suns will now prepare to make their home debut on Wednesday afternoon in a doubleheader against nationally-ranked Rogers State starting at 3 p.m. The final location of where the games will be played in Russellville will be made early in the week.
