BENTONVILLE, Ark. — After striking out seven of the first 10 batters she faced, Kayla Wyatt finished with a career-high 14 strikeouts in a 3-2 win for Southern Nazarene over Southwest Baptist in its first game of the UAM 8-State Classic. The Crimson Storm then fell 8-6 to Drury in the second game.
 
Wyatt (1-1) struck out 14 of the 29 batters she faced as she gave up just two runs on five hits in the complete game outing.  Kylie Lang and Melissa Padilla led the way on the offensive side for the Storm as Lang went a perfect 3-for-3 with two runs scored and Padilla went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and a run scored.
 
SNU scored the first run of the game in the top of the first on a Padilla single to short. Southwest Baptist added two in the bottom of the second to lead 2-1, but SNU tied it in the top of the fifth when Katelyn Brown roped a two-out single to left. Padilla then gave the Storm the winning run when she belted a leadoff home run to left center.
 
In the nightcap, Drury scored three in each of the first two innings to lead 6-0 before adding another in the third. SNU got two back in the top of the fourth when Padilla blasted a two-run home run to left to cut it to 7-2. The Panthers answered in the fourth with a solo home run to lead 8-2, but SNU scored three in the top of the fifth to make it 8-5. Brown drove in the first run when she ripped a single up the middle before Sydni Toilolo laced a two-run double to left center. The Storm got another run back in the seven on an Alyssa Hughes bases loaded walk, but Drury stopped SNU from there.
 
Lang went 3-for-4 with a run scored while Brown and Toilolo each had two hits. Brown scored three runs and drove in one while Toilolo had two RBIs. Brown moved to 1-3 in the circle after giving up eight runs on 10 hits and striking out six in six innings of work. She also walked seven.
 
SNU left 13 on base against SBU and seven on base against Drury. The Crimson Storm move to 2-4 on the year.