ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – One day after being held to two runs combined in two games, the SWOSU Softball team responded by outscoring Henderson State 11-3 in a doubleheader sweep against the Reddies at Dee White Field.
 
SWOSU (9-32, 9-24 GAC) comes back to split the four-game series with Henderson State and they will take the momentum into a doubleheader against Northwestern Oklahoma State at 2:00 pm on Tuesday in Alva.
 
SWOSU 8, Henderson State 1
Box Score
 
Each team scored once in the first inning, but that would be it for Henderson State as SWOSU's Rileigh Ricken shut down the Reddies for the final six innings while the Dawgs put up three runs in the third, two in the fifth and two in the seventh to pull away for the victory.
 
Sidney Kirk was the star at the plate for SWOSU, going 3-for-4 at the dish with three runs batted in while finishing a double shy of hitting for the cycle. Kirk had an RBI triple in the first inning that scored Amanda Moreno from second, then added a two-run homer in the third and added a single in the two-run fifth inning. SWOSU also got three hits from Allyson Gafford, who was 3-for-4 with two runs scored, while Moreno and Ricken each had two hits in the game. Samantha Householder was 1-for-4 with two runs scored and hit a two-run home run in the top of the seventh.
 
Ricken (4-14) was superb in the circle, settling down after allowing a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first to allow just four more hits with four walks in a complete-game victory.
 
SWOSU 3, Henderson State 2
Box Score
 
The series finale saw SWOSU score first and the game head into the sixth inning tied at 1-1 before Henderson State took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth with an unearned run. Down to their last out, Moreno came through clutch with a two-run double that scored the tying and go-ahead runs and propelled the Bulldogs to the doubleheader sweep.
 
Moreno doubled and scored on an RBI single from Kirk in the top of the first inning, which proved to be the lone run in the game until the third inning, when HSU tied the game with an RBI single. The Reddies would then take their lone lead of the game in the sixth inning, getting a leadoff double and an error to get a runner to third before scoring on a wild pitch.
 
Kaytlin Donaldson got the rally started in the seventh with a one-out single before Hannah Morris beat out a hit that was bobbled by the Reddies second baseman and would have been the final out of the game. Moreno stepped in with runners at the corners and hit a blooper down the right field line that was nearly caught be HSU's right fielder, but then came out of her glove when she hit the ground. Donaldson scored easily on the play and Morris hustled around all the way from first to score the go-ahead run.
 
Donaldson (1-4) pitched a gem for the Dawgs and earned the win after allowing just four hits and two runs – one earned – in a complete-game effort.