ARKADELPHIA, Ark.—Southern Nazarene would have loved to kickstart Great American Conference play with a series win over Henderson State, but that was not in the cards as Henderson took the deciding game three 4-2 over the Crimson Storm.
The two teams split Sunday's double-header in a pair of tight ball games, and another tight one was on tap on Monday afternoon. Henderson (3-13, 2-1 GAC) grabbed the lead with a two-run homer in the third inning and would hang on to a slight lead the rest of the way.
The Crimson Storm (4-13, 1-2 GAC) got one run back the following inning as an Emma Swearingen sacrifice fly cut the deficit in half. That run was quickly wiped away, though, as Henderson responded with a run of their own in the bottom half of the fourth to put the score at 3-1.
As they did in the fourth inning, both teams pushed across one run in the fifth inning as a two-out single from Liana Heshiki scored Natlie Jones in the top half, but Henderson notched a two-out single of their own as the lead found it's final resting point at 4-2.
Down to their final out in the seventh inning, Heshiki kept the game alive with a double to left center field for her third hit of the game. This brought the tying run to the plate, but SNU was unable to capitalize as a strikeout ended the game.
Along with Heshiki's three hits, Natalie Jones also notched one hit for the Storm.
Jennifer Romero-Ivarson and Hannah Sattler shared the circle for the Crimson Storm. The duo combined for 4 strikeouts in the game. Sattler would allow just 1 hit in her 2.1 innings pitched.
The Storm will now look to next weekend as they attempt to earn their first GAC series win of the season. The team travels to Durant to take on Southeastern Oklahoma State next weekend in the battle of the Storms. The Savage Storm took two of three over the Crimson Storm last season. SNU will look to flip the script on Southeastern on Friday and Saturday. The teams are set for a single game at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, followed by a 1:00 p.m. double-header on Saturday.
