Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The string of strong performances by the SWOSU softball team against the top teams in the Great American Conference continued on Friday as the Bulldogs earned a doubleheader split with Southern Arkansas, a team in contention for a top-two seed at the conference tournament.
The Bulldogs won the first game 3-1 in 11 innings but a 4-3 defeat in the second game mathematically eliminated SWOSU from the conference tournament. It will be the first time in the three-year history of the tournament that the Bulldogs will not appear at the event, held in Bentonville next weekend.
SWOSU 3, Southern Arkansas 1 (11 inn.)Box Score Julianne Martinez battled for a complete-game victory in the opener, forcing the Muleriders to strand 16 runners on base and convert for just one run despite 11 base hits. The game went into the 11th inning scoreless and
Ashley Dunigan was placed on second base to start the inning as part of the international tiebreaker.
Courtney Miller led off the inning with a sacrifice bunt and
Adrienne Martinez double to score Dunigan for the first run of the game.
Nikki Brandt followed that with a single that moved Martinez to third and
Molly Vivo and
Caitlyn Deason finished off the scoring with RBI singles to put the Bulldogs up 3-0. SAU got a runner on second via the ITB and singled to score one run but Martinez held them to just one run as she earned her eighth victory of the season.
Southern Arkansas 4, SWOSU 3Box Score Adrienne Martinez went 2-for-3 in game two with two RBI on a fifth-inning single, but it was not enough for the Bulldogs to get the sweep.
Ashley Dunigan tripled to lead off the third inning and scored on a wild pitch but SAU tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the inning before taking the lead with two runs in the fourth.
After SWOSU tied the game on the hit by Martinez, the Muleriders scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fifth and held the Bulldogs off in the final two stanzas.
Mallory Davis suffered the loss after tossing 2.1 innings in relief of
Molly Vivo.
The Bulldogs will play their final games of the 2014 season on Saturday in Magnolia, with the doubleheader slated to begin at 11 am.
