MONTICELLO, Ark. — After a dominant series sweep of the then No. 19 Southern Arkansas Muleriders, Southern Nazarene looked to continue their fiery streak in Monticello, snatching the series victory from Arkansas-Monticello 2-1 on the road. 

Game 1 

A Hailey Evans single to right center got SNU off to a hot-scoring start, plating both Kenedi Morelock and Sydney Sundbye for the quick 2-0 gap. Liana Heshiki wasted no time keeping up the fire with a two-run blast over the centerfield fence and SNU quickly bumped up to a 4-0 gap. 

A third base error by the Blossoms put Mikayla Oaks on first and Emma Swearingen soon rewarded her with a run with a huge triple, growing the Storm lead to five runs before the side was retired. 

The pitching duel came into effect between SNU's Janie Worthington and UAM's Kayla Olthouse, both pitching four scoreless frames, keeping Southern Nazarene with the lead. 

The Storm's five-run third inning was just enough to earn them the Game 1 victory by a final 5-0 score. 
Worthington pitched a complete game with only two hits allowed and seven strikeouts, recording her 12th win this season. 

Evans finished 2-3 with two RBIs while Heshiki finished 2-4, also with two RBIs.

Game 2 
The Blossoms were the first to get on the board in Game 2 from an SNU fielding error in the bottom of the first inning. Starting pitcher Katelyn Woodard was able to leave one runner stranded to retire the side, keeping SNU with the one-run trail. 

A Blossom error in the second inning allowed Morelock to reach first allowing Sundbye to trot home for the 1-1 tie. The Blossoms took back the lead in the bottom half of the inning by a fly out that scored one. 

After two scoreless innings between the two squads, Southern Nazarene looked to challenge the Blossoms in the top of the fifth.  With two on base, Heshiki had the chance to tack on more runs, but popped up to the third baseman for the final out of the frame, still trailing UAM by one. 

Olivia Hernandez came in for the pitching job and helped deliver three straight outs in the way of the Blossoms, quickly retiring the side moving into the sixth inning. 

Sundbye snatched the momentum back for the Storm with the go-ahead double, plating Swearingen and Maddie Riley for the 3-2 lead with only one out on the board. The Blossoms were able to piece together an excellent fielding display, getting the double play on the Storm to retire the side. 

UAM cracked out a double to inch closer to the game-tying run and Worthington returned to the circle to help close out the inning. The Blossoms sent a single to tie the contest at 3-all with only one out under their belt. 
Worthington worked out of the jam to stop the damage, leaving one final chance for the Storm to turn the game around moving into the seventh inning. 

UAM put SNU through a quick three-up, three-down seventh, earning one final chance to steal the Game 2 victory. Worthington erased that chance, delivering back-to-back strikeouts and then forcing a fly out to retire the side for extra innings. 

Kristen Mullendore excited the Storm with the go-ahead single to score Mikayla Oaks, putting SNU ahead 4-3. UAM was able to get the third out to lessen the blow, leaving it up to Worthington to keep SNU in winning standing. 

Arkansas Monticello was not going down easy, getting two on base from a single and an SNU error. Another Blossom single gave them another game-tying run, pushing the score to read 4-4.  The Storm quickly grabbed two quick outs, but UAM cracked another single, this one being the walk-off single to earn the final 5-4 victory in Game 2 of the doubleheader. 

Game 3 

Just two runs shy of getting the series win yesterday in Game 2 of the doubleheader, Southern Nazarene looked to secure the victory in their final day in Monticello. 

After two scoreless innings to open the contest, Southern Nazarene's offense finally woke up in the third inning as Mullendore singled up the middle to score Noah Dodson. 

Starting pitcher Maddie Southerland continued to keep the Blossoms off the board and SNU kept the scoring going in the fourth as Heshiki's fly out scored Mikayla Franks. 

Now up 2-0, Southern Nazarene controlled a small edge over the home team. Another fly out in the sixth inning gave the Storm a three-run gap, this time, it was off the bat of Evans that scored Franks again.

Looking to keep their lead alive, Southern Nazarene gave the circle duties over to Olivia Hernandez and Worthington, who both teamed up to keep the Blossoms scoreless the rest of the afternoon. 

SNU's 3-0 victory allowed them to return home with the final 2-1 series win. 

Up Next

Southern Nazarene will get back to non-conference action on Tuesday, March 26th as they compete in a 2 p.m. doubleheader with Newman.