BENTONVILLE, Ark. – The 2025 season came to an abrupt end in the opening round of the Great American Conference Tournament on Thursday night for the Arkansas Tech softball team as they lost 3-2 in nine innings against No. 3-seed Southern Nazarene.
All five of the runs scored in the game did not occur until the ninth inning as the Golden Suns and Crimson Storm were locked in a pitcher's duel. For Tech, they got 5.1 innings of shutout softball from their starter
Alexis Findley and then turned to the bullpen and
Aly White, who was able induce a 1-2-3 double play to end the bottom of the sixth and keep the game scoreless.
For SNU, they matched the shutout in the circle with their starter Janie Worthington. She would end up pitching all nine innings for the Crimson Storm and took a shutout into the ninth inning. In that ninth inning, however, Worthington put the first two batters on base without the benefit of a hit as
Kacie Gibbins was hit-by-a-pitch followed by a walk to
Sadie Turner.
Maycie Hardy then loaded the bases with a bunt single. In the next at-bat, the Golden Suns scored the game's first run as Gibbins was able to slide in safely as SNU was going for the back-half of a potential 3-2 double play. A batter later, the lead was 2-0 in favor of Tech as
Caroline Wilhelm hit a sac fly to centerfield that scored pinch-runner,
Brooklyn Haney.
In the bottom half of the inning, however, SNU's offense put immediate pressure on Tech as they loaded the bases with no outs following a pair of walks and a single. The Crimson Storm then drove in their first run on a single up the middle.
SNU only advanced everyone 60-feet on that play as the bases remained loaded. The Golden Suns then turned to the bullpen once more for senior
Bradi Basler. Thrust into a deeply difficult situation with the potential tying run at third and the potential winning run at second, Basler induced a ground ball that looked to be a double play, but the throw was not on target at home and both runner scored, giving SNU the win, 3-2.
