BRANSON, Mo. – The Arkansas Tech softball team split their two games of action on Saturday afternoon at the Branson Leadoff Classic as they beat Minnesota-Crookston, 12-0 in five innings, and lost to Missouri Southern, 8-0 in six innings.
MINNESOTA-CROOKSTON
In the game against Minnesota-Crookston, the Golden Suns wasted no time in jumping out to an early lead as they scored three runs on three hits in the bottom of the first inning.
Maycie Hardy led that inning off with a walk, she then advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored shortly thereafter on a RBI single to right field by
Sadie Turner.
Three batters later, Tech scored a pair of runs on a two-RBI single to center by
Kacie Gibbins.
In their next trip to the plate, the Golden Suns continued their offensive attack and scored four runs on three hits. All four of the runs scored with two outs in the inning. The first was forced in on a bases loaded walk to
Caroline Wilhelm. The second was driven in by Gibbins while the third and fourth runs came home on a two-RBI single by
Lexi Gorniak.
As if they were attempting to out-do the inning prior, the Golden Suns did just that in the bottom of the fifth as they scored five runs on three hits in the frame. Turner would drive in two while Hardy stole home and Wilhelm and Gibbins also collected RBIs.
All of those runs were in support of starting pitcher
Alexis Findley. The senior right-hander would pick up the win after pitching 5.0 shutout innings with two walks and five strikeouts.
MISSOURI SOUTHERN
The second game of the day was the first time this weekend that the Golden Suns' offense was held in check as they were shutout on just one hit.
That stout pitching for Missouri Southern was backed by eight runs on eight hits from their offense. The Lions would score a run in the first, two in the third and ended the game with five runs in the sixth.
Anna Winkfield collected the lone hit for the Golden Suns against Missouri Southern. In terms of pitching,
Bradi Basler struckout three in 3.1 innings while
Aly White struck out five in 2.0 innings.
UP NEXT
The Golden Suns will now prepare to conclude their opening weekend of action on Sunday morning against Emporia State. First-pitch is scheduled for 9 a.m.
