RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech softball team picked up a pair of wins on Friday as they swept their doubleheader at home against East Central. Tech would win the first game, 6-3 and then won the nightcap 1-0 with a two-out walk-off hit in the bottom of the seventh.
GAME ONE
In the opener, the Golden Suns were the first to score and did so with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second. That inning got started with a one-out single from
Sharlee Jackson. Two batters later,
Lexi Gorniak was able to extend the inning as she reached on a fielding error by the ECU shortstop.
The Golden Suns would not waste any time in making that two-out error hurt as
Neveah Wilson drove in both Jackson and Gorniak on a triple to left field.
That 2-0 score held until the bottom of the fourth when the Golden Suns scored two more runs. Once more it was Jackson getting things going as she hit a one-out double to left. Jackson was then pinch-ran for by
Brooklyn Haney, who quickly made it to third on a wild pitch. Haney then scored moments later on a RBI single by
Savannah Snow.
After a walk to Gorniak and an infield single from Wilson, the bases were loaded with one out for leadoff batter,
Sadie Turner. Turner would collect a RBI the hard way as she was hit-by-a-pitch. The Golden Suns looked like they might continue to add to their lead, but a flyout double play ended the frame.
ECU was then able to ride the momentum of that in their next trip to the plate as they pushed across their first run of the game. The Tigers then added another single run in the sixth to pull within two of the Tech lead. In their half of the sixth, however, the Golden Suns were able to score a pair of insurance runs thanks to RBI singles from
Kacie Gibbins and
Anna Winkfield.
The Tigers would get a two-out solo home run in the top of the seventh to bring the game to its final score of 6-3.
GAME TWO
The second game of the day did not see a run cross the plate until the very last at-bat as Gorniak provided the two-out heroics. Despite the lack of scoring, both teams had their chances at points in the game.
The best chance prior to the seventh for the Golden Suns came in the bottom of the fifth. Jackson led that inning off with a single to left-centerfield. She was then pinch-ran for by Haney, who was promptly moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. After the second out of the inning was made, Wilson looped a single into the deep part of the infield that nearly made it into the outfield. On that play, the Golden Suns were aggressive on the base path and sent Haney, but she was cut down at the plate on a great play by the ECU shortstop.
Just a half inning earlier, the Golden Suns were able to escape the best scoring chance that ECU had as they had loaded the bases with two outs for their No. 3 hitter in the order and top-run producer in Amiah Galcatcher.
That was when the Golden Suns called upon
Bradi Basler to come in from the bullpen. After throwing a first-pitch ball, Basler would go on to pound the zone and struck out the Tigers' most dangerous hitter to end the fifth.
Basler would then come back in the sixth and quelled any thought of ECU gaining momentum following their high-wire avoidance of giving up a run a half inning earlier as the senior emphatically struck out the side.
The Golden Suns would get a leadoff single from Turner in the sixth, but were unable to move it around to score. Basler then worked around a leadoff walk to keep the game scoreless.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Golden Suns were setup well from the outset thanks to a leadoff double from
Maycie Hardy. Jackson then did her job and sac bunted Hardy to third. ECU then got within an out of escaping another jam and forcing extra innings, but on the first pitch of her at-bat in the seventh, Gorniak lined a single to left-centerfield for the walk-off winner.
UP NEXT
The Golden Suns and Tigers will conclude their series on Saturday afternoon with a single game starting at Noon.
