BETHANY, Okla. — For the third time this year Kayla Wyatt notched a career-high for strikeouts as she struck out 17 in a 4-3 loss to Henderson State in the second game of a doubleheader. SNU lost the first game 13-10.
 
Henderson State struck early in the opener with a two-out solo home run in the top of the first, but the Storm struck back with 00 in the bottom half of the inning. Melissa Padilla drove home the first run for SNU with a double up the middle to score Jill Clemence. The Storm went up 2-0 on a Hannah LeBeau ground out before Sam Smith gave Southern Nazarene a 3-1 lead on a bloop single to left to score Padilla.
 
The Reddies pushed two more across the plate with home run in the top of the second to tie it at 3-3. HSU took a 4-3 lead on an SNU error and added another in the inning to lead 5-3 through the top of the third. The Reddies added two more in the fourth to lead 7-3.
 
The Storm cut it to 7-4 in the bottom of the fourth when Katelyn Brown drew a bases-loaded walk and then got the deficit down to 7-6 on a Padilla single up the middle. The Storm retook the lead at 8-7 just two batters later when Smith singled through the left side to drive in two more.
 
Henderson State though scored five in the top of the fifth to lead 12-8 and added another in the sixth to take a 13-8 lead.
 
The Storm got one back in the bottom of the sixth when Smith tripled to right to score Toilolo to cut it to 13-9.
 
Southern Nazarene got one more in the bottom of the seventh when Brown singled up the middle to make it 13-10, but Henderson State shut the door from there.
 
Smith and Padilla led the way as Smith went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and Padilla went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and a run scored. Clemence also went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Katelyn Brown ( took the loss after giving up seven runs on seven hits in 1.1 innings pitched. Kayla Wyatt got the start as she gave up five runs, four earned, in three innings of work. She also struck out five.
 
In the opener, Brown broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the first when she singled to right to put SNU up 1-0. The Storm added two more insurance runs in the sixth with one coming on a Brown squeeze bunt before Jessica Thompson drove home another run with a ground out to short.
 
Henderson State though had different plans as Kiersten Seahorn ripped a grand slam to left field to give HSU a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh.
 
Wyatt struck out 17 of the 29 batters she faced as she gave up four runs on nine hits in the complete-game outing. Padilla went 3-for-4 with a run scored while Kylie Lang and Brown each went 2-for-4. Lang scored one run while Brown drove in two. Sydni Toilolo also went 2-for-2.