By CONNOR GRAY, Assistant Editor
The Northwestern softball team finished its home series with the Harding Lady Bisons in some hard-fought games.
Harding swept the Lady Rangers in a series where the Lady Rangers failed to capitalize on opportunities.
“The scores don’t show it, but we were in a position to be in all three games,” head coach Ryan Wondrasek said. “We just couldn’t get that timely hit to knock in the runs we needed.”
In Game One, Harding got two runs after getting down to two outs as the Lady Rangers struggled to get the third out.
The Lady Rangers proceeded to struggle the next two innings, with four strikeouts and two caught in the field of play.
After a good second inning defensively, the third inning blew open. Northwestern gave up six runs, including a three-run homer.
The Lady Rangers, being down 8-0 in bottom of the fourth, got runs of their own from a three-run home run by Mackenzie Adams, but it was the only time Northwestern scored.
Harding scored one more run, a solo home run in fifth, which led to a 9-3 final.
In Game Two, the result was similar, but the overall game was different. The offense for Northwestern had better day hitting, but players did not string it together to get runs.
Harding got runs five runs for the first two innings. Northwestern’s defense did its best to keep the game locked down, as the Rangers never really had a big inning throughout the game.
In the second inning, the Lady Rangers strung together two hits. The second resulted in two-run homer by Mackenzie Adams.
Once again, this was all the Lady Rangers got, as their inability to get runners in scoring position hurt them. The defense gave up four more runs to lose, 9-2.
“Softball is a game of failure, and you have to be able to grind through it,” Wondrasek said. “Remain confident in yourself when you may be in a slump and when the hits aren’t falling.”
In the third game, both sides had to work hard to get runs.
In the top of the fourth, Harding got a double and strung together a hit and a fielder’s choice play to get a run in, making it 1-0.
In the next inning, Harding singled to the left and got a triple two batters later to get a run.
Northwestern answered with a run of its own after Adams got a double and scored off a bunt single by Jayden Solberg.
Harding fired back with two runs after stringing together several hits and a sac fly to put them up 4-1 in the sixth.
Hannah Howell got a home run in the bottom of the inning to make it 4-2, but the Lady Rangers did not get another run and lost the game.
The Lady Rangers’ next game will be in Russellville, Arkansas, against Arkansas Tech. The first game will be Friday at 5 p.m., and a doubleheader will begin Saturday at noon. The last one will be at 2 p.m.