SEARCY  – After two wins on Friday, the 3rd-ranked Harding softball team completed the series sweep of No. 7 Southern Arkansas on Saturday after taking both games of the Great American Conference doubleheader. The Lady Bisons won 3-1 and had a 1-0 walk-off win in game two.

It was the first time in GAC softball history two top-10 teams are playing each other.

The Lady Bisons improve their record to 42-4 overall and 32-2 in the GAC. Southern Arkansas falls to 35-11 overall and 25-9 in the GAC.

With today's wins, Harding took a seven game lead in the GAC standings over the Lady Muleriders who are in second place.

 
Game One Key Innings (#3 Harding 3, #7 Southern Arkansas 1)

-         Harding scored a run early in the bottom of the first inning off two hits. With Courtney Derrick at second, Peyton Mills hit a double to right center field that scored Derrick.

-         Southern Arkansas quickly tied the game in the top of the second off three hits. Rachel Miller had a RBI single up the middle with one out.

-         The Lady Bisons broke the tie in the third. Autumn Humes hit a single up through the left side and then advanced all the way to third off a fielding error by the left fielder. Alexus Lawellin scored from third on the play.

-         Peyton Mills picked up her second RBI of the game in the fourth when she hit a double to right center to score Alexus Lawellin.

-         Southern Arkansas had runners at second and third with one out in the top of the seventh but Harding got out of the inning on a strikeout and a foul out.

Game One Key Statistics

-         Harding produced six hits in the game with Peyton Mills going 2-for-3.

-         Southern Arkansas had seven hits with Brooke Goad and Marina Duran each having two.

-         Hannah Johnson picked up the win to tie her career-high of 20 wins on the season. She improved to 20-2. Johnson threw six innings, gave up seven hits, one earned run and struck out four.

-         Autumn Humes came on in the seventh to pick up her fourth save of the season for Harding.

-         Peyton Jenkins, who started her first game of the season in the circle, received the loss and falls to 1-2 on the season. She threw six innings, gave up six hits, two earned runs and struck out four.

 
Game Two Key Innings (#3 Harding 1, Southern Arkansas 0)

-         Katie Carney led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a double down the right field line for Harding. After Lindsey Duncan came in to pitch run, Courtney Derrick hit a slow chopper to the right side that was fielded by the pitcher. The pitcher threw the ball away at first that allowed Duncan to score from second for the winning run.

 
Game Two Key Statistics

-         Harding had seven hits in the game, led by Courtney Derrick who went 3-for-4.

-         The Lady Bisons left nine runners on in the game.

-         Southern Arkansas only had one hit that came in the top of the seventh inning.

-         With the win, Autumn Humes broke the school record for wins in a season by a pitcher. She improves to 21-1 on the season. Humes threw the one hit shutout and struck out three. It was her 10th shutout of the season.

-         The shutout marked the second time this season Southern Arkansas has been shutout. The first one came on the Harding 4-0 win on Friday.

-         Jill Roye received the loss for Southern Arkansas and falls to 3-2 on the season. She came on in relief and pitched two innings.

Up Next

-         The Lady Bisons will be back in action on Tuesday when they wrap up their four-game series with Arkansas Tech in a doubleheader. Harding won first half of the series at Arkansas Tech on April 4th. The Lady Bisons won 4-3 and 1-0.