BETHANY, Okla. – The Arkansas Tech softball team concluded their first Great American Conference series of the year on Saturday with a split in their doubleheader at Southern Nazarene. The Golden Suns were victorious in the opener, 7-5, but fell in the finale 8-0 in five innings.
GAME ONE
In game one, the Golden Suns got out to an early lead with a run in the top of the first on a RBI by
Aidan Gorton, but the Crimson Storm matched it in the bottom half. An inning later, the Golden Suns scored again, this time on a single by
Lexi Gorniak. As they did the inning prior, however, SNU scored a run themselves to once more tie the score, this time at two-all.
Neither team scored over the third and fourth innings, but the Crimson Storm did strike for a pair of runs without the benefit of a hit in the bottom of the fifth to take a 4-2 lead. In the next half inning, Tech got a run back thanks to a clutch two-out RBI single by
Shelby Chavers.
Yet again, however, SNU responded with a run of their own in the bottom half, this time pushing their lead back out to two with potentially one more inning left to play.
In that top of the seventh inning, Gorniak was the first to reach base thanks to a one-out hit-by-pitch. A batter later, the Golden Suns were down to their final out before
Dani Lindsey doubled to centerfield to extend the inning and move Gorniak third.
With the tying run in scoring position, the Golden Suns then loaded the bases with a walk to
Sydney Keaton. That proved to be a major moment in the game as it allowed Gorton another at-bat and the freshman delivered with a grand slam home run out to left-centerfield, flipping the two-run deficit for Tech into a two-run lead.
After that momentum-shifting homer,
Ella Thornley came back in the circle and held the Crimson Storm scoreless in the bottom half to put the finishing touches on the comeback win.
GAME TWO
The second game of the doubleheader was controlled by Southern Nazarene as they would go on to win 8-0 in five innings. In picking up the shutout, the Crimson Storm limited the Tech offense to just three hits in the game.
Aidan Gorton,
Shelby Chavers and
Maycie Hardy registered the hits for Tech with Chavers' being a double.
UP NEXT
The Golden Suns will prepare to make their long-awaited home debut and play on their newly turfed field this coming weekend for a series against Henderson State. The first game of the series is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start time on Friday, March 1.
