BETHANY, Okla. — Southern Nazarene split the final two games of the series with No. 7 Southern Arkansas Saturday as it dropped the first game 5-1, and won the second 15-8.
 
The Crimson Storm (7-13, 3-7 GAC) tallied just three hits in the opening game against the number one team in the Great American Conference. Katelyn Brown got the nod for SNU in the circle as the senior took her seventh loss of the season. She surrendered seven hits and five runs, all earned, and struck out eight in a complete game.
 
Riley Brown had the only RBI of the game for the Storm as she finished 1-for-3 at the plate with a solo home run, her second of the year. Caitlyn Curlee went 1-for-3, while Katelyn Brown went 1-for-2 at the plate as well.
 
The Muleriders (19-3, 10-2 GAC) got on the board first in the opening inning courtesy of a solo home run to take the early 1-0 lead. SAU added three more runs in the top of the fourth to push their lead to 4-0, before Riley Brown's homer cut the lead down to 4-1.
 
That was the closest Southern Nazarene came however, as Southern Arkansas added another run in the top of the sixth to make it 5-1, and the Storm couldn't answer in the final two innings.
 
Brooke Tate got the start in the final game of the series, as she gave up four runs, all earned in just one inning of action. Katelyn Brown came in for relief and earned her fourth win of the year as she struck out four and allowed just one run in 6.0 innings of work.
 
The Crimson Storm bats came alive in this one, as they tallied 12 hits as eight batters recorded at least one hit for SNU. Caitlyn Curlee led the way at the plate as the freshman went a perfect 3-for-3 with a home run, and four RBI's. Mahina Sauer finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI's, while Riley Brown went 1-for-3 with a run scored and three RBI's.
 
Sydni Toilolo went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI, while Katelyn Brown went 1-for-4 with an RBI as well. Kai Sanchez and Brooke Stutz each recorded an RBI for SNU as both went 1-for-4 while Jacey James had three runs scored.
 
For the second straight game, the Mulerider bats got going in the first inning, as they pushed across four runs to take the early lead. The Storm came right back in the bottom of the first as Riley Brown's double scored Sauer, Toilolo, and James to make it 4-3. Later in the inning, Katelyn Brown reached on an error that scored Alexis Ramos to tie the game 4-4.
 
SAU added three runs in the top of the second to retake the lead at 7-4, but the Storm responded once again in the bottom half of the inning. Sauer singled to center that scored Toilolo and James to make it 7-6, and Curlee singled up the middle to score Sauer to tie the game 7-7. Katelyn Brown reached on a fielder's choice that ended up scoring Sauer to give SNU their first lead of the game at 8-7. Stutz then singled later in the inning to score Brown to make it 9-7.
 
Southern Arkansas chipped into the lead in the fourth inning, as they scored one run to make it 9-8. That was the last run the Muleriders pushed across the plate, as the Storm went on to score six unanswered runs to close the game.
 
Curlee's sixth home run of the season in the bottom of the fourth made it 10-8, and Kai Sanchez cranked her first homer of the season in the same inning to push the SNU lead to 11-8.
 
Sauer singled in the fifth to score Victoria Rodriguez to make it 12-8, and Curlee's single a few batters later drove in two more runs to give the Storm a 14-8 lead. Toilolo's single in the sixth inning scored Kriston Shumaker to make it 15-8, and the lead was too much in the final inning for the Muleriders.