BETHANY, Okla.—An afternoon of festivities did quite end in celebration for the Crimson Storm as a late lead got away from Southern Nazarene as they fell 10-8 to Southern Arkansas in eight innings.
Southern Nazarene (22-23, 18-11 GAC) hosted their Alumni and Veterans Appreciation game and began by honoring long-time head coach and SNU alum, Tere Webber. The field was renamed "Tere Webber Field" after her long 17 year career as the Southern Nazarene Head Softball Coach.
SNU also honored veterans as they wore their camo jerseys and each named a Veteran that they were playing the game in honor of their service.
After struggling on offense yesterday, scoring just five runs in two games, SNU's offense came out hot on Saturday. Patience proved to be the key as the Storm drew seven walks in the game. Of those seven walks, three came in Southern Nazarene's first turn at bat where they scored three times to open up a 3-0 lead.
Southern Arkansas (33-14, 24-6 GAC) quickly bounced back with their own three-spot in the top half of the second. Response was the name of the game for the Muleriders, who matched SNU's run total from the previous half inning all but one time in the game. The Crimson Storm retook the lead in the bottom half of the second and held Southern Arkansas off the scoreboard in the top half of the third, the only time SAU was unable to respond to an SNU run,
The lead was then doubled to 5-3 in the third inning as Hailie Fellers went with the outside pitch and lifted it to left field, letting the wind do the work and carry it over the fence for her sixth home run of the season. The Muleriders got that run back immediately with their own solo shot the following inning.
Caitlyn Curlee (Bates) had a tremendous series against some of the top pitchers in the Great American Conference. Coming into the game, she was already 4-for-7 at the dish and she improved on that with a 3-for-4 day on Saturday, including a two-run home run that once again gave SNU a 7-4 advantage. Bates finished the series 7-for-11 with 4 RBIs.
SNU was unable to hold that three run lead over the final two innings, though. After giving up two runs in the sixth inning, the Crimson Storm gave up a two-out RBI single in the seventh that tied the game. The Storm had a chance to win it in the seventh after a leadoff double from Hailie Fellers, but a lineout, a fielder's choice, and a strikeout stranded her at third base.
Southern Arkansas loaded the bases with no outs, but the Storm had a chance to get out of the inning unscathed after an infield fly and a strikeout. It was not meant to be, though, as a bases loaded walk followed by a two-run single broked the game open 10-7.
The Storm did not go down without a fight in the bottom half of the inning, scoring a run and bringing the red-hot Hailie Fellers to the plate as the tying run, but a groundout to first ended that threat and gave the Muleriders the extra-innings win and the series win.
The Storm now sit 2.5 games behind Harding for the third spot in the GAC, and 0.5 games up on Southeastern Oklahoma State for the fourth spot in the conference with just one series to paly. SNU holds the tiebreaker over Harding, but Southeastern holds the tiebreaker over the Storm. Next weekend, SNU will host Ouachita Baptist for the regular season finale, but first the Crimson Storm will head to Tahlequah for a late season non-conference matchup with Northeastern State. The Storm defeated NSU 9-6 in festival play back in February. First pitch is set for 2:00 p.m. in Tahlequah.
