ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The Harding softball split the Great American Conference doubleheader at Ouachita Baptist on Monday. The Tigers won the first game 2-1 and the Lady Bisons won the second game 6-4.
Harding sealed a spot in the GAC Tournament held April 30-May 2 in Bentonville, Arkansas yesterday. With a conference bye next weekend, the Lady Bisons will have to wait to see what seed they will be.
Harding moves to 21-25 overall and finished the GAC regular season with a 15-15 record. Ouachita Baptist moves to 11-31 overall and 7-24 in the GAC.
GAME TWO
Ouachita Baptist scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth and held on to defeat Harding 2-1.
After three scoreless innings, the Tigers scored their first run on a bases loaded walk. After a strike out and the bases loaded, Jocelyn Jones reached on a fielder's choice that scored Kelly Powell. With two outs, Harding got Alex Jennings to strike out looking for the third out of the inning.
Harding got a run back in the top of the fifth when sophomore Amanda Berdon hit her fifth home run of the season.
The Lady Bisons had the tying run at third with two outs in the top of the seventh but a strike out gave Ouachita Baptist the win.
Freshman Jade Sones got the win for Ouachita Baptist to improve her record to 2-9. Sones threw the complete game as she gave up five hits and struck out five. Senior Amber Rollins (13-12) got the loss for Harding. Rollins went the distance and only gave up two hits and struck out six batters.
Kinsey Beck, Brookelynn Moon, Mackenzie Jones, Amanda Berdon and Emily Jones all went 1-for-3 in the game.
Kimmy Hendricks had her reach base streak end in the game. Heading into the game, she had reached base in 21 straight games which broke the previous record of 19 held by Carolyn Clayton. Hendricks' streak was the second longest active streak in the GAC.
GAME TWO
Two home runs propelled Harding to a 6-4 win over Ouachita Baptist in game two on Monday. The Lady Bisons won the series 3-1.
After three scoreless innings, Emily Jones doubled which knocked in Harding's first run in the fourth inning.
The Lady Bisons added five more in the fifth. Mackenzie Jones hit a two run home run to right center and then Marley Edwards hit a three run home run to right center. It was Jones' second home run of the season and Edwards' fourth. Harding had four hits in the inning.
The Lady Bisons had the shutout intact until the bottom of the six inning when they gave up four runs on five hits.
Danielle Hubbard got the win for Harding to improve to 8-11 overall. It was her seventh complete game of the season. Macy Nantz (4-14) got the loss for Ouachita Baptist.
Each team had 11 hits in the game. Carolyn Clayton, Edwards and Emily Jones each had two hits.
Harding will be back in action on Tuesday when it travels to Cleveland, Mississippi to take on Delta State in a non-conference doubleheader starting at 2 p.m.
