ARKADELPHIA -- The Ouachita softball team never trailed during Saturday's doubleheader and brought out the broomsticks after completing the program's first series sweep over Harding at Langston Field.
Senior pitcher Hannah Hunter (2-2) held Harding to just one run in the opener, allowing just four base hits scattered across seven innings to claim the series. With Ouachita up 4-1 in the seventh, the Lady Bisons tried a hit-and-run, but it backfired as Hunter forced a pop out to first base into a game-ending double play.
Ouachita scored in each of its last three at-bats. Redshirt-senior Remington Adams led off with a single into right-center, then stole second base. Junior Emily Reed barrelled a double off the left field wall, but Adams was held at third after waiting for the fly ball to land. Ouachita struck first after freshman Morgan Uher dropped a sacrifice bunt to score Adams from third.
Harding responded with runners on the corners as senior Bailey Willis hit into a fielder's choice, but beat out the double play to level the score in the fifth inning. Ouachita reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the fifth after freshman Addison Davidson hit an RBI double into the left-center gap to score Reagan McCoy. Davidson led the Tigers with four hits in the weekend series.
The Tigers capitalized with three consecutive extra-base hits to start the sixth, ignited by Uher, who launched her first career homer deep over the left field wall. Juniors Jordyn Merrett and Olivia See followed with consecutive doubles to right field to plate an insurance run.
A trio of juniors belted homers to lift the Tigers to a 7-3 win for the series sweep in Game 3. Starting pitcher Karley Burrow helped her own cause with a shot over the right field wall to lead off the third. After Davidson turned on a pitch for a single to left field, Merrett worked a full count and pulverized a no-doubt, two-run blast beyond the centerfield wall to jump ahead 4-0.
Harding cut the deficit in half after freshman Payton Alexander lifted a towering home run over the left field wall for her first collegiate homer, but the Bisons committed a costly fielding error with two outs in the fifth, which proved to be the difference. Reed made the Bisons pay and retaliated with a massive three-run blast over the left field wall, then admired the seventh homer of her junior campaign with a slick bat flip before she trotted around the bases.
In the circle, Burrow (2-1) allowed just two runs over 4.1 innings to earn the decision in the series finale. Sophomore pitcher Catie Amador recorded an eight-out save, while allowing just one earned run to secure the home sweep. With a fourth straight win, the Tigers improved to 8-9 overall and 4-1 in Great American Conference play.
Ouachita travels next weekend to face Southern Arkansas for a three-game series, starting on Friday, March 6 at 6 p.m.
