The Lady Bisons won their series against East Central University (ECU) 3-1 on March 25-26. The Lady Bisons are now 25-13 overall and 17-9 in the Great American Conference (GAC).
The Lady Bisons started out strong on Friday, sweeping ECU with a score of 7-5 in game one and 6-4 in game two. They took the lead quickly in the first game after a double by freshman outfielder Peyton Mills sent junior outfielder Courtney Derrick home from second. The lead was lost after ECU brought in two runs in the sixth inning on four hits, but the Lady Bisons answered with a homerun in the seventh inning from Mills to win the game.
The Lady Bisons started game two with five runs on five hits in the bottom of the first inning, making it difficult for ECU to get back into the game. Freshman pitcher Ashley Smith improved her record to 7-3 when she pitched five innings to win it for the Lady Bisons. She gave up eight hits and two earned runs and struck out three. Smith said she has had a season of improvement and adjustment.
“It’s a hard jump between high school and college, but I feel like playing at Harding has taught me how to play more of a mental game,” Smith said.
The Lady Bisons split on Saturday, winning the first game 3-1, but dropping the final game 10-1.
In game one, ECU was the first to make it on the board in the top of the first, but the Lady Bisons did not wait long to retake the lead. They responded in the bottom of the first with two runs on three hits, one from freshman infielder Alexus Lawellin, who scored on a wild pitch. The Lady Bisons scored the final run of the game in the second, which carried them to the win — their third of the series.
Game four did not go the Lady Bisons way. ECU opened up a 9-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when it scored six runs on five hits and ultimately ran away with the series’ final game, 10-1.
“They had seen our starting pitcher from game four in game two, and they were able to have success off of her,” head coach Phil Berry said. “Fortunately, a lot of their hits came in one game, and we were able to spread ours around the other three.”
The Lady Bisons returned to the diamond on Tuesday afternoon to play a doubleheader against No. 4 Arkansas Tech University (ATU). The Golden Suns’ bats were hot to start game one, as they opened up a 4-0 lead in the first inning. The Lady Bisons battled back throughout the game, bringing in two runs on a Mills home run in the third inning and then a Mills single to score freshman outfielder Morgan Acosta in the fifth. However, it was not enough, and the Lady Bisons fell in the first game 4-3.
The second game was more of the same for ATU, as they once again opened with a huge first inning — this time scoring six runs in the top of the first. The Lady Bisons tried to get back into the game with five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, but the Golden Suns tacked on an insurance run in the sixth and went on to win game two 8-6.
The Lady Bisons’ next game is today against Southern Arkansas University at noon and 2 p.m. in Magnolia, Arkansas.
