BRANSON, Mo. – The Arkansas Tech softball team picked up a pair of wins on Thursday during the first day of D2 Branson Battle with a 7-4 victory over Quincy and a 4-1 defeat of Nebraska-Kearney.
QUINCY
In the game with Quincy, the Golden Suns found themselves trailing 2-0 early as the Hawks scored a pair of runs in the top of the first. After not scoring in the first inning, the Golden Suns pushed across their first run of the game on a bases loaded walk issued to
Aubree Jones.
An inning later, the Golden Suns took a one-run lead with a pair of runs. The first run was driven in by
Destiney Madewell she hit an infield single to shortstop that scored
Sharlee Jackson, who was on third base to lead off the inning after an error by the Quincy right fielder allowed her to make third.
Caroline Wilhelm then hit a sacrifice fly to center to score the go-ahead run.
The Hawks matched that two-run inning by Tech with one of their own in the top of the fourth as they took a 4-3 lead.
The Golden Suns would not score in the fourth but struck for four runs in the bottom of the fifth to regain the lead and go up by three, 7-4.
Aly White led off the inning with a double to center, but was out at third later in the next at-bat trying to steal third.
Anna Winkfield then walked followed by a single from Madewell. Wilhelm then came up with the biggest hit to that point of the game as she tripled to right field, scoring Winkfield and Madewell and giving Tech a 5-4 lead.
Three batters later, the Golden Suns scored a pair of insurance runs as Jones doubled to center.
That three-run lead would be more than enough for White to be able to hold up as she had entered the game in the circle in the top of the fourth. After getting the final out of that inning, White would pitch the remaining three innings and allowed just one hit while striking out six.
NEBRASKA-KEARNEY
In the game with Nebraska-Kearney, the Golden Suns trailed first as the Lopers scored a single run in the bottom of the second. That would be the only run scored by Kearney in the game as the Golden Suns' pitching did a great job in stranding baserunners as they forced eight runners on base over the course of the rest of the game.
After allowing that unearned run, the Golden Suns answered right back with two runs in the top of the third to take a 2-1 lead.
Aubree Jones led the inning off with a single and then scored shortly thereafter on a RBI triple from pinch-hitter
Abby Lowery. One batter after her triple, Lowery scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of
Aly White.
That 2-1 score held until the top of the sixth when the Golden Suns scored an insurance run on a RBI single from Lowery. An inning later, the Golden Suns tacked on a run as
Riley Drake drew a based loaded walk.
White got the start in the circle after finishing the prior game but was lifted in the fourth by
Ainslee Moore. Moore would go on to collect the win in relief. She would scatter five hits, allow no runs and one walk while striking out four in 3.2 innings.
UP NEXT
The Golden Suns will now prepare for two more games at the D2 Branson Battle on Friday afternoon. First up is a 1 p.m. game against Pittsburg State. The second game will be against Truman State and is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m.
