SAU Sports Information
BENTONVILLE – No. 18 Southern Arkansas entered of the Great American Conference Tournament needing to defeat Harding twice to claim its second league-tournament title in three years.
After a two-run walk-off homerun by junior designated player Maddie Dow in the opener forced the decisive "if-necessary" game, junior pitcher Peyton Jenkins delivered a complete-game shutout of the Lady Bisons as SAU captured the 2016 GAC Tournament Championship on Sunday at the Tiger Athletic Complex in Bentonville.
SAU defeated the Harding Lady Bison 3-2 in the first game and blanked them 7-0 in the second contest.
The Lady Muleriders (46-9) received the GAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Regional Tournament. They will host the NCAA Division II Central Region Tournament on Dawson Field at the SAU Softball Complex.
SAU, second-ranked in the region, will open postseason play on Thursday agaisnt Central Oklahoma (39-18)
The other matchup in the double-elimination tournament will involve Missouri-Western (43-11) battling Minnesota-Duluth (35-15).
It will be just the second time in program history that Southern Arkansas will compete in an NCAA Regional Tournament; the first being two years ago when the program captured the 2014 GAC tourney title with a pair of wins over Southeastern Oklahoma State.
It was anything but easy for Southern Arkansas in Sunday's opener as multiple pressure-packed situations dictated the game's action from start to finish.
All-GAC Second-Team pitcher Kaylee Garner received her second tournament start for Southern Arkansas in game one and worked five innings of scoreless softball, before the GAC's Newcomer of the Year in Kimmy Beasley entered in the sixth inning in what was her fourth appearance and first in relief.
Beasley worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning, before Jenkins tossed the seventh inning in her third tournament appearance.
Prior to game one's dramatic seventh inning, several defensive plays highlighted the morning as SAU's Liz Hudgins threw-out a Lady Bison baserunner, who was attempting to score the game's first run, in the top half of the second to end the inning, before Harding's Brookelyn Moon robbed Dow of an extra-base, multiple-RBI hit in the third inning with an impressive grab in the left centerfield gap. SAU's Tyler Casada erased a Harding base-runner resulting in a quick inning for Southern Arkansas.
Southern Arkansas scored first in the opener as Casada singled home Taylor Guin on a short pop-up that fell on the infield for an RBI-base hit.
In the top half of the seventh inning, Harding's Kimmy Hendricks followed a one-out walk with a two-run homerun over the leftfield fence that all but clinched the tournament title, before Southern Arkansas' momentum-shifting at-bat in the seventh.
Darian Harris singled to lead-off the inning with the first-pitch that she saw from Harding's Hannah Johnson, and on a 2-2 count in the next at-bat Dow perpetrated a season-saving swing as she belted a two-run opposite field walk-off homerun that sent the tournament bracket to the 15th and final game.
In the first game, the two clubs combined to for 19 hits as SAU led with 11, while the two teams also combined to strand 19 baserunners, including each team leaving the bases loaded once, courtesy of quality pitching and superb defense.
In the championship game, the Lady Muleriders relied on Jenkins who received the start in the circle after picking up her first win of the year in the game before. Jenkins was dominant in her first start of the season as the junior tossed a complete-game shutout, scattering four hits, while striking out five.
The SAU offense supplied more than enough run support for Jenkins as the Lady Muleriders plated three runs in the first inning, two runs in the third and a pair of runs in the fifth.
Dow, after cranking out the walk-off dinger in the previous game, left the yard in her first at-bat in the title game as her three-run homerun out to leftfield gave Southern Arkansas a 3-0 lead and the rest of the momentum. Dow added another RBI in the third inning as a walk scored Hudgins, before a double by Ashton Atwell resulted in Darian Harris scoring on a throwing error. The final run came in the next at-bat as Atwell raced home on a wild-pitch to give Southern Arkansas a 7-0 lead that they would not relinquish.
SAU's seven runs in the title game came off of eight hits, while Harding collected just four hits.
Hudgins and Darian Harris led Southern Arkansas with four hits each and Dow and Brooke Goad added three. Dow tallied six RBI on the day with four coming in the championship game, while Atwell and Casada collected an RBI each.
Four players were named to the 2016 GAC All-Tournament team lead by Dow who claimed MVP honors after going 2-for-5 with six RBI on "Championship Sunday." The Bonham, Texas, native finished the six-game tournament hitting .278 with five hits and five runs scored. Four of her five hits went for extra bases as she blasted three home runs to finish with eight RBI and a slugging percentage of .833.
Casada, a native of Rowlett, Texas, claimed All-Tournament honors after leading Southern Arkansas with a .412 batting average (7-for-17). She collected seven hits, four RBI and a pair of runs scored. Harris, a Brazoria, Texas, native was selected to the team after posting a .381 average with eight hits, five runs scored and three RBI.
In the circle, Beasley, a native of Foreman, Arkansas, garnered All-Tournament Team honors after posting a 2-1 record and a 1.46 ERA. She appeared in four games, started three, and tossed 24.0 innings. Beasley powered through a 12-inning affair to earn a win over East Central and finished the tournament with 13 strikeouts.
The NCAA Regional Tournaments consist of two four-team double-elimination regionals hosted by the one and two seeds. The winners of the four-team regional tournaments square off in a super-regional at the site of the highest seed with a trip to Denver, Colorado, and the NCAA DII College World Series on the line.