ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita Baptist University softball team won both games of its Great American Conference rivalry double header against Henderson State at home on Wednesday by final scores of 5-1 and 11-7.
In the first game, the Tigers (7-14, 3-5 GAC) jumped out to an early lead with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. The first run came across on a HSU error, and the second was driven on a groundout. Ouachita went up 3-0 in the third inning on an RBI double from
Callie Jourdan.
HSU (5-18, 3-5 GAC) took advantage of a Ouachita fielding error to score its lone run in the top of the fourth.
Jourdan drove in her third run of the game to put the Tigers up 4-1 in the fifth, followed in the next at bat by an RBI single from
Jillian Jones to finalize the scoring.
Hope Waid accounted for three of Ouachita's seven hits in the win, going 3-for-3 with three runs scored and two stolen bases.
Madison Miller (4-4) earned the win in complete-game fashion, giving up just one unearned run off eight hits with six strikeouts and no walks given up in her seven innings of work in the circle.
In the nightcap, a pair of four-run innings early in the game gave the Tigers the cushion they needed to earn the double header sweep. The Tigers scored one in the first, four in the second, and four in the third to build a big lead. The big blow for Ouachita was a bases-clearing triple by
Heather Brown in the second, her first three-bagger of the year.
HSU was also putting up crooked numbers of its own to keep the game close with the Tigers holding a 9-5 after four innings.
Ouachita added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, highlighted by a pinch-hit RBI double by
Tally Turnbow.
Brown led the Tigers offensively in the nightcap, going 3-for-4 with four RBI.
Nikki Schneider (2-6) earned the win in the circle, tossing all but the final out of the game.
Tuesday Melton registered her first career save, getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh.
The two squads will meet again for the third game of the series on April 5 across the street.
The Tigers are now set for a road trip to Southern Arkansas this weekend. The three-game GAC series will be played as a single game on Saturday at 2 p.m. and a double-header on Sunday starting at 1 p.m.
