By RANGER ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT
In the first conference series of the season, Northwestern Oklahoma State traveled to Bentonville, Ark. to play Arkansas Tech. Two late pushes by the Golden Suns led them to two victories over the Rangers on day one of the series.
GAME 1
There were no Rangers with multi-hit games, but Morgan Kirk, Brittany Corrales, Macy Madewell and Peyton Garrett all had one a piece.
Starting in the circle for the Rangers was Madison Garza who was only able to go four innings, struggling taming the bats of the Golden Suns who put up four runs on the senior pitcher.
Northwestern started out the scoring in the contest, where Madison McGraw took home on a wild pitch that also moved Madewell to third, but that would be all the visitors could muster.
ATU immediately followed it up with a run of their own in the bottom of one on a single to center field.
Each squad refused to go away in the game as they knotted it up twice more.
As the game was tied 2-2, Northwestern’s Kirk pelted a homer over the left field fence to make it 3-2.
Unfortunately for the Rangers however, the Suns put up two runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 4-3 advantage, ultimately giving them the one-run victory.
GAME 2
The Rangers struggled on offense in game two of the day as there were only two hits recorded for the Black-and-Red, coming by way of Kirk and Garrett.
Karly Murry was the pitcher of record in the second game and came away with a tough loss, with three of the four runs coming on a homerun.
Neither team was able to gain an advantage until the bottom of the third where a single to left by Coronado, scoring Bunch on the play to make it a 1-0 ballgame.
Both pitchers did a good job keeping the other team off the scoreboard, but that would change in the bottom of the sixth where three more runs were put on the board for the hosts on a three-run bomb to left field, making it 4-0.
The Rangers were unable to come up with any runs in the top of the seventh, ultimately leading to the loss. Northwestern Oklahoma State took on Arkansas Tech for the second day in a row and came up short in both contests, as the Golden Suns downed the Rangers 9-2, and 5-1 in the doubleheader.
GAME 3
The Rangers bats came alive in the first game of the day, where they collected nine hits as a team with two players in Estrella Guardiola and Garrett earning two a piece. Five other batters also got in on the hitting display.
Allison Wells made her first starting appearance on the season and went three full frames before giving way to Karly Murry who went the last three innings for the Black-and-Red.
The first game of the day started out the same as the first yesterday, where the Rangers struck first. Corrales got on board with a double down the left field line and was then moved to third on a wild pitch. Following the wild pitch, McGraw gained an RBI on a groundout to the second baseman to get the scoring started.
In the bottom of the first however, the Golden Suns scored as well, but theirs on a wild pitch, tying it up at 1-1.
ATU put up two more runs in the bottom of the second after a scoreless half inning for the visitors, making it 3-1.
Northwestern was able to scratch another run across however in the top half of the third, but was once again followed up by another two runs posted by the Golden Suns.
Arkansas Tech kept adding up the run support however, scoring four more runs over the next two innings and shut down the Rangers in the process, ending the game up seven runs.
GAME 4
The Rangers didn’t hit as well in the final game of the series, recording only five total hits as a team, while Tech tallied up 10 of their own.
Both teams were scoreless through one inning, but ATU crossed home plate in the second for one run, making it an early 1-0 lead.
The game would remain that way until the top of the fourth when a single by Guardiola to left field, plating Madewell for their first score of the game, tying it up at one run a piece.
The tie game didn’t last long however as the hosts slapped three singles past the infield and stole home for a four-run inning, which was ultimately enough to put away the Rangers in the end.