Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SEARCY, Ark. – The Ouachita Tiger softball team lost by a total of two runs to No.17 Harding on Monday afternoon, 3-2 and 9-8.

The seventh inning has not been kind to the Ouachita (9-10, 5-7 GAC) softball team has lost four out of the past six games in the seventh inning or later.

Harding (16-4, 10-2 GAC) continued to hold serve as they are tied at the top of the Great American Conference standings with Southern Arkansas.

Game One – Ouachita 2, Harding 3
Peyton Mills hit a one out homerun to centerfield to put the Bison on the board first in the bottom of the first inning.

In the top of the fourth inning, the Tigers started a two-out rally. Tobi Finley kept the inning alive with a single up the middle. Natalie Jackson crushed a 2-0 pitch into the left field gap to tie the game at one.

The game stayed tied for several innings until the bottom of the fifth inning. Madi Trump doubled to left center field to start the inning. The next batter laid down a perfectly placed bunt to put runners on first and second with no outs. Lindsey Duncan stepped up and hit a 2-RBI double to right centerfield to give the Bison a 3-1 lead.

The Tigers attempted a seventh inning rally to keep the game alive. Sloane Precure leadoff the inning with a single. After consecutive ground ball outs by the second and third batters of the inning, Precure advanced to third on a pass ball. Finley singled to right field to bring the Tigers within a run of the Bison. Jackson flew out to left field to end the game.

Finley was the top hitter for the Tigers, going 3-for-4 with an RBI.

Game Two – Ouachita 8, Harding 9  
Nothing happened in the opening few frames of the contest as each team felt out the starting pitcher.

The Bison got to Sarah Chamberlain (Shreveport, La.) in the bottom of the third inning. The first runner of the inning reached on an error by Natalie Jackson at second base. Briley Feringa laid down a perfectly placed bunt to score the runner from third and give the Bison the early 1-0 advantage.

A few batters later and the Bison scored again on a wild pitch from Chamberlain. Katyln Gordon then hit a 2-RBI double to center field to give the Bison a 4-0 lead heading into the fourth inning.

The Tigers offense responded to the Bison in the top half of the fourth inning. Kelly Powell singled to begin the inning and two batters later Finley was hit by a pitch to reach base. Sarah Johnson made the Bison pay by crushing a 3-run home run to left centerfield to pull the Tigers within a single run of Harding.

Ouachita broke the game open in the top of the fifth inning with a pair of RBI hits from Jackson and Halley Ryburn. The Tigers led 8-4 going into the bottom of the fifth inning.
The Bison responded to the Tigers offensive outburst with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the fifth. Harding kept chipping away at the Tigers lead in the bottom of the sixth, when a sacrifice fly brought the Bison within a single run of Ouachita.

Ouachita went down in order in the top of the seventh inning to set up the opportunity for Harding to win the game in the bottom of the seventh.

Feringa doubled to right centerfield to tie the game at 8. Three batters later Gordon ripped a full count pitch down the left field line to score the game winning run for the Bison.
Jackson was the top hitter for the Tigers in game two as she went 2-for-4 at the plate with a pair of RBI's.

Ouachita will be on the road again next weekend against East Central University. The first game of the four game series is slated to begin at 2 p.m. on Friday afternoon.