Harding sweeps Southern Arkansas

No. 3 Harding University (42-4, 32-2 Great American Conference) took a seven-game lead in the conference standings over No. 7 Southern Arkansas University (3511, 25-9 GAC) after sweeping a doubleheader against the Lady Muleriders on Saturday, winning the first game 3-1 and the second game 1-0.

Peyton Mills hit an RBI double in the bottom of the first inning of the first game to give the Lady Bisons a 1-0 lead, but the Lady Muleriders tied the game in the top of the second on Rachel Miller’s RBI single. Autumn Humes’ RBI single in the third gave Harding the lead for good at 2-1, and Mills added another RBI double in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead.

Katie Carney led off the bottom of the seventh inning in the second game for Harding with a double down the right-field line. Carney scored on Courtney Derrick’s RBI fielder’s choice. Southern Arkansas had only one hit in the second game.

Hannah Johnson (20-2) earned the victory for Harding in the first game, allowing 1 earned run on 7 hits with 4 strikeouts in 6 innings. Humes, who got the save in the first game, earned her school-record 21st victory in the second game.

In other GAC softball action Saturday, the University of Arkansas at Monticello (30-14, 23-9 GAC) swept a doubleheader from

Arkansas Tech University (29-17, 23-11 GAC), winning 4-1 and 3-2. Kendra Coleman got the victory in the first game after striking out eight in a complete game, while Kaylee Greeman earned a complete-game victory and had an RBI single in the second game. … Ouachita Baptist University (17-29, 11-23 GAC) split Saturday’s doubleheader with Northwestern Oklahoma State, losing the first game 5-2 and winning the second game 15-4. Macy Wilson went 3 for 6 on the day with 2 runs scored and 4 RBI. Sarah Johnson, Natalie Jackson and Macy Nantz all hit home runs in the second game.