BETHANY, Okla. — Southern Nazarene secured a berth to the Great American Conference Championships with a 6-2 win over Ouachita in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday. SNU lost the second game 13-11.
 
The Crimson Storm (27-29, 18-26 GAC) closed out the regular season with a split, but will head into the GAC Championships as the eighth seed and will take on Arkansas Tech in the first round.
 
Jill Clemence led the way for SNU in the opener as the senior went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Kayla Wyatt increased her career-high for wins and strikeouts as the senior moved to 18-12 on the year and fanned 10. She gave up just two runs, one earned, on four hits the complete game performance.
 
Ouachita took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but the Storm struck back in the bottom half of the inning on a two-out, two-run double to right center by Jessica Thompson to put SNU on top 2-1. The Tigers tied it in the top of the fourth, but SNU answered right back in the bottom of the fifth to take a 6-2 lead. The first run came on a Clemence double to left center before a Katelyn Brown single to right drove in the second run. The final two runs of the inning came on a wild pitch and a Tigers' error.
 
SNU took the first lead in the nightcap when Brown singled to center to score Sam Smith in the bottom of the first. Thompson made it 2-0 when she laid down a sacrifice squeeze to score Toilolo. After loading the bases, SNU added another run on a bit of a trick play as Brown stole home. Kyndall Freer-Christopher then laid down another sac squeeze to put the Storm up 4-0.
 
Ouachita made it 4-2 with two in the top of the second, but SNU got one back when Brown laced a single to left to make it 5-2 in the bottom of the second. A Tiger error made it 6-2 in the second.
 
The Tigers cut it to 6-5 in the top of the third, but SNU though pushed it to 7-5 on a Brown sacrifice squeeze. Ouachita though blew the game open in the top of the fifth with eight runs to lead 13-7.
 
SNU got one back in the bottom of the seventh on a Tiger error to make it 13-8 before a wild pitch made it 13-9. Brown then blooped a single down the right field line to drive in two more to make it 13-11, but that was as close as SNU came.
 
Wyatt took loss to fall to 18-13 on the year after she gave up eight runs, two earned, in relief. Brown went 3-for-4 with five RBIs and a run scored. Clemence and Smith each went 2-for-4 as well. Smith scored three runs while Clemence scored two.