Bauxite’s Buffington no-hits NW Okla.
RUSSELLVILLE - Former Bauxite Lady Miner and current Arkansas Tech Golden Suns starting pitcher Bailey Buffington threw an incredible no-hitter for the 18th in program history in a 4-0 win over Northwestern Oklahoma this past Saturday in Russellville. This is the ninth straight conference series win for the Golden Suns and the fifth straight conference series sweep.
Buffington got things rolling right away quickly grabbing a three-up, threedown inning in the top of the first. In the bottom of the frame, senior second baseman Tymber Riley would record a single through the right side for the lone hit of the bottom of the first. She would get as far as third base, but the Rangers were able to get out of the inning before she could strike home plate.
Riley was incredible at the plate in game one of the doubleheader going a perfect 4 for 4 and collecting two RBIS. The senior made up four of the five total hits for the Golden Suns as a whole in the game.
In the top of the second, Buffington went to work once again collecting a pair of swinging strikeouts on her way to three outs to bring out the Tech bats. The Rangers issued back-to-back walks to Jessica Williams and Holly Crutchfield (Glen Rose) to put two on base for the Golden Suns. Riley would drive home Williams a single up the middle to make it a 1-0 Arkansas Tech lead heading into the third inning of action.
Dominating the NWOSU hitters once again, Buffington retired three straight batters that included another pair of swinging strikeouts in the third inning and picked up another swinging strikeout in the top of the fourth inning where she once again sent back three straight in the NWOSU lineup.
Another walk to Williams led off the bottom of the fourth inning. Following the walk, Crutchfield would advance Williams to second on a sacrifice bunt, but would be safe at first following a muffed throw by the Ranger second baseman. Bringing across Williams would again be Riley with what was essentially the same exact scoring play as the last with a single up the middle to make it a 2-0 lead for the Golden Suns.
Heading into the top of the fifth, Buffington took to
the inside of the circle to try and continue to command the game. She did just that in another inning only facing three batters and sending back two on strikeouts. She would do the same thing in the top of the sixth making it her fourth straight inning of retiring the side in just three faced hitters from the Ranger lineup.
The bottom of the sixth would be where the Golden Suns shut the door on the game with another pair of runs. For the third time in the outing, NWOSU walked Williams. Also, for the third time in the outing Riley would advance Williams with a single to put runners at the corners for Tech as Caitlyn Wells approached the plate.
During the at-bat for Wells a wild pitch would allow Riley to advance to second to setup the scoring play with runners in prime position at second and third. Wells would bring across both runners picking up a two RBI single up the middle to give the Golden Suns a 4-0 lead.
Buffington capped of her brilliant performance in the circle with yet another three straight outs to claim the 18th no-hitter in Golden Sun softball program history. She picked up the win and moves to 12-6 (2.27 ERA) on the year. The sophomore finished her day with no hits or runs allowed, walking only a single batter, and recording eight strikeouts to lead Arkansas Tech to the 4-0 win. Buffington has struck out 89 batters in 98.2 innings pitched on the year.
Fellow sophomore Shelby Chavers, also a former Lady Miner, is batting .293 with six home runs and 18 RBIS, leading the team in walks (29), hit by pitches (18) and stolen bases (12).