BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Top-seeded Arkansas Tech secured its first trip to the title game of the Great American Conference Softball Championships since 2022 as the Golden Suns defeated Harding, 9-0 in five innings, on Friday from the Tiger Athletic Complex.
Aly White threw 4.0 scoreless innings to improve to 14-5 on the season. She struck out seven and allowed just one hit as she faced one over the minimum. At the plate, she drove in the game's first run on a successful squeeze bunt in the first.
The Golden Suns (42-13) scored in all four frames. In the second, Brinly Bancroft scored on a passed ball, Aaliyah Dixon singled home Miya Curry and Anna Winkfield brought home Dixon with a double.
An inning later, Destiney Madewell scored on a Harding error and a Winkfield single chased home Dixon and Curry. Winkfield scored on a single by GAC Freshman of the Year Aubree.
The final Golden Sun run came courtesy of a Curry single.
Winkfield and Madewell each collected six half to account for half of Tech's total. Curry went 2-for-2. Winkfield, Curry and Dixon scored twice. Dixon added a stolen base.
Arkansas Tech becomes the third GAC to make the final of the Softball Championships five times. The Golden Suns made four straight between 2018 and 2022. They won the title in all four prior appearances.
They will face Southern Arkansas in a meeting of the tournament's top two seeds at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. SAU won all three games in the regular season.
