By Megan Maharry
Sports Editor
The Lady Ranger softball team faced off against GAC opponent Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas March 31 and April 1.
The Lady Rangers played a four-game series, with double-headers on the March 31 and April 1.
The Lady Rangers dropped March 31 double-header games 8-1 and 8-2 respectively.
In game one, the Lady Rangers started off with a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
A single down the right field line by Morgan La Neve scored Alexus Bailey.
Harding matched Northwestern’s one run with a sacrafice fly in the bottom of the first.
The Lady Rangers would gain that lone run only, as the Harding offense came alive, scoring four runs in the bottom of the second and then three more in the bottom of the sixth.
The Lady Rangers turned around to drop game two of the day’s double-header 8-2.
It seemed as if the Lady Rangers struggled offensively again, as they could only bring in two runs.
They began with a 1-0 lead in the first inning, thanks to a La Neve double to center field, which scored Kalie Johnson.
The Lady Rangers held the lead and tacked on another run in the top of the third on a Jada Overby single that scored Abby Detar.
Harding tied the ball game at two all in the bottom of the third.
Although Northwestern collected 12 hits, it was not enough to result in any runs.
Hardng scored runs in every inning after the third to ultimately claim the victory. In games three and four, the Lady Rangers once again found themselves falling to Harding.
Game three resulted in an 8-0 loss. The offense for the Lady Rangers struggled as they only collected four hits throughout the game.
The game was scorless until the third inning when Harding tacked on their first run.
The Harding offense collected 13 hits throughout the game and scored seven more runs throughout the game to eventually take the 8-0 shutout. In the fourth and final game, Northwestern fell 5-0.
The Lady Ranger offense totaled five hits, three of which came off the bat of Alexus Bailey.
Unfortunately, the Lady Ranger offense could not bring any runs across home plate.
The game was scoreless until the fourth inning when Harding struck with two runs.
The Harding offense tacked on three more runs in the fifth, which was enough to take the win.
The Lady Rangers move to 5-28 overall on the season.
The Lady Ranger’s next contest will be against Arkansas Tech University at home on April 5 and 6.