SEARCY, Arkansas – The Ouachita Baptist University softball team dropped two defensive games to the No. 20 Harding Bisons on the road in a Great American Conference double header Friday evening.
Game One: Harding 3, Ouachita 0
In the first defensive battle of the day, both Ouachita and No. 20 Harding were held scoreless in the first inning. Ouachita got their first hit in the top of the second inning on a
Madyson Shoebottom leadoff single, but she was left stranded at second. Harding got on the board first with a solo home run and a sacrifice fly in the second inning to take a 2-0 lead after two. The top of the third saw another hit for the Tigers in a
Tiffany Backeberg leadoff single. The Bisons added a third run in the bottom of the fifth to go up three runs. The Tigers got a couple of baserunners in the top of the seventh but could not get them home and Harding took game one by a score of 3-0.
Game Two: Harding 3, Ouachita 1
The second game of the day saw
Erin Williams get on base in the top of the first with a two-out single. Harding then followed that by jumping out to a two-run lead after the bottom of the first inning. Both teams put zeroes on the scoreboard until the sixth inning. Ouachita did get another baserunner in the fourth inning as Williams had another single.
The sixth inning saw both teams' offenses wake up a little. In the top of the inning,
Hope Waid led off with a hit by pitch and moved over the second base as
Heather Brown grounded out.
Erin Williams then doubled to right center to score Waid and the Tigers cut the No. 20 Bisons' lead to just one run. However, this was short lived as Harding answered back with a run in the bottom of the sixth to push its lead back to two runs. The Tigers got one baserunner in the top of the seventh but left them at first and Harding took game two 3-1.
- Erin Williams went 3-for-3 with an RBI. Williams accounted for all but one of the Tigers' hits in game two.
- Callie Jourdan went 1-for-1 at the plate with a pinch-hit single.
- Hannah Hunter came in to pitch in the bottom of the first with two outs and finished the game, pitching 5.2 innings and giving up just one unearned run with one strikeout.
The Tigers will look to avoid the sweep in the series finale Saturday at noon in Searcy.
