The Lady Bisons won 9-2 and lost 5-2 against Lyon College in their non-conference doubleheader on Tuesday, March 31, making their current record 12-20.
The first game was the team’s fourth straight win. They got off to a fast start scoring four runs in the bottom of the first. The final run of the inning was scored by redshirt sophomore infielder Emily Jones with her first home run of the season. Sophomore pitcher Danielle Hubbard was also important to the win pitching three scoreless innings.
Harding had a total of eight hits in the second game with sophomore infielder Marley Edwards scoring her second home run of the season. However, the team could not make up for the five runs Lyon scored in the first two innings.
Senior shortstop Jessica Greene said that despite the team’s loss of the second game, she feels the team’s record is still on the uphill.
“The second game did not go how we wanted it to, but we are still getting better,” Greene said. “We have settled into spots and have a line up that we are going with, so we are starting to mesh more and getting more comfortable.”
The team improved it’s record earlier in the week, winning a series against Northwestern Oklahoma University 3-1 on Sunday, March 29 and Monday, March 30.
Despite a slow start to the season, sophomore outfielder Madison Wickline said that the team’s losing record is also fueling the players. Being a new team last year posed a challenge, but Wickline said that improvements are evident just from the beginning on this season.
“Starting the season with our losses made us decide that we were all going to work harder,” Wickline said. “These recent wins are definitely good for us because it is showing that our hard work is paying off.”
As the season progresses, senior second baseman Kinsey Beck said that the team continues to work on different areas while remaining focused on the series they play next.
“Our mentality has been better and we are focusing on starting and finishing games,” Beck said. “Our past four games the other team has scored in the first inning. We usually bounce back from that, but when it gets to the closer games it is going to be that half inning that could possibly hurt us.”
The current goal of the team is to secure a spot in the GAC conference tournament. They will continue with conference play today in a doubleheader at Southwestern Oklahoma State University at 1 and 3 p.m.
