ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - Trailing in the bottom of the ninth inning,
Emily Acuna delivered her second walk-off RBI single of the day to give the Ouachita Tigers (2-0) the 6-5 win over Missouri Western State (1-1).
Marissa Butler went 8.1 innings for Ouachita, striking out five.
Kelsey O'Brien picked up the win in relief.
Both teams scored in the first inning, with the Tigers tying the game 1-1 in the bottom of the inning. After
Kelly Powell and
Kailey Madden led off with back-to-back-singles, Powell scored after
Kate Lacina reached base safely on an error. Ouachita took a 2-1 lead on KJ Keeley's RBI single in the bottom of the third inning.
Missouri Western tied the game in the top half of the sixth inning an an RBI single. They took a 3-2 lead after a double steal allowed Mueller to steal home. Ouachita rallied in the bottom of the sixth.
Suzie Gresham singled through the right side with one out. She then stole second and immediately after, stole third to get into scoring postilion. A sacrifice fly on a full count to
Kaylie Roberts brought Gresham home and tied the game at 3-3.
After a scoreless seventh inning where both teams left runners in scoring position, the two teams exchanged runs in the eighth inning to make it a 4-4 game.
Emily Acuna scored after Gresham reached on an error to keep the Tigers in the game.
After falling behind again in the top of ninth by one run, Ouachita entered the bottom half of the inning needing two runs to put the Griffons away. With
Kelly Powell starting the inning on second base, she advanced to third after Madden reached first base on a bunt.
Sarah Johnson singled through the right side to bring home Powell and the game was tied at 5-5. Two batters later, Acuna came to the plate with runners on second and third and two outs. with the count at 1-1, Acuna delivered with a single up the middle to score Madden and give the Tigers the 5-4 win in extra innings.
The Tigers improved to 2-0 on the season and will face Northeastern State tomorrow at 1:00 p.m., followed by Mississippi College at 3:00 p.m. to close out the Ronnie Hawkins Invitational.
