ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita softball split its Great American Conference opening doubleheader against East Central University on Saturday, winning game one 9-4 and dropping game two 7-3.
Game One: Ouachita 9, East Central 4
It was an even start for Ouachita and East Central in the 2025 GAC opener as both sides posted scoreless first innings. East Central struck first with one run in the top of second, but Ouachita was quick to answer.
Emma Scales laid down a sacrifice bunt with one out to score
Kennedy Wilkie from third to tie the game up at 1-1.
The Ouachita offense exploded in the fourth inning for seven runs. After loading the bases with no outs,
Rylee Gentzel worked an RBI walk to give the purple Tigers a 2-1 lead. Then, back-to-back-to-back RBI singles by
Jordyn Merrett,
Baylee King, and
Emily Reed put the Tigers up 5-1. King was then brought home on an RBI groundout by
Remington Adams and the final run of the Ouachita rally on an RBI single from
Jessalyn Ahrens that scored the pinch runner
Paige Guhn to put the purple Tigers up 8-1.
ECU answered back with three runs in the fifth inning to cut the score to 8-4. Ouachita responded with an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth thanks to an RBI double from Reed that scored King and push the lead out to five. Ouachita held East Central to just one hit over the final two innings and the purple Tigers claimed a game one victory by the final score of 9-4.
Four Tigers, King, Reed, Ahrens, and Scales, each recorded two hits in the win. Reed led the team in RBI with two and King led in runs scored, also with two.
Catie Amador got the start in the circle and earned the win after throwing 4.1 innings with three strikeouts.
Callie Kilburn pitched 2.2 innings in relief and gave up just one hit.
Game Two: East Central 7, Ouachita 3
It was Ouachita that struck first in the second game of the afternoon as Merrett scored off an RBI double from Reed, her second double of the day. After a scoreless second inning, East Central plated five runs in the top of the third to take a 5-1 lead. Ouachita responded with one in the bottom half of the frame on a King RBI groundout to make the score 5-2.
East Central added two more in the fourth inning to push its lead to five. Ouachita was able to plate one more run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly from Adams, cutting the deficit to four. However, ECU held onto its lead and Ouachita dropped game two 7-3.
Merrett was the only purple Tiger to record more than one hit in the loss.
Karley Burrow started in the circle and earned the loss.
Tuesday Melton pitched 5.0 inning in relief and struck out five while only allowing two runs.
The Purple and Orange Tigers will be facing off tomorrow in the series-deciding rubber match that is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. on Sunday, February 23 at Langston Field.
