by Atheltic Communications
Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers continued their four-game series against Southern Arkansas University Saturday afternoon.
The number six nationally ranked Lady Muleriders again showed off their offensive skills with 28 hits on the day while the Red-and-Black tallied nine.
They also tallied six homeruns on the afternoon with 25 RBI’s. Northwestern now sits with a record of 3-12, with a Great American Conference mark of 0-8. Alexia Taylor played well in the first game from the circle, while Ariel Forsyth got the start in the second game.
Game 1
The Rangers defense rallied behind Taylor as she shut down the Lady Mulerider offense to start the game with a one, two, three-inning. Back-to-back singles in the top of the second gave Southern Arkansas their first lead of the game with a 1-0 lead. The Northwestern had a chance in the bottom of the second but ran themselves out of the inning.
A solo homerun I the top half of the third inning extended the SAU lead 2-0 and was followed by another later in the inning after an error by the Ranger defense.
The Lady Muleriders held a 3-0 lead, but stellar pitching from Taylor held them from scoring in the top of the fourth. This gave the Red-and-Black their opportunity and they jumped on it. Flowers singled to left followed by a Casey single to put baserunners on second and third. Detar earned an RBI after a fielder’s choice allowed Flowers to score and cut the lead 3-1.
The Lady Muleriders earned that run back quickly however with two singles and took a 4-1 lead. The Red-and-Black continued their momentum into their half of the fifth inning with runners in scoring position but could not plate any runners.
Southern Arkansas pushed their lead out of reach of the Rangers in the top of the seventh inning as they added three more runs with four hits on two singles and two doubles. NWOSU went down in order in their half of the seventh and took their third loss of the weekend with a final score of 7-1.
Game 2
The Lady Muleriders carried their momentum into the second game as their bats caught fire and tallied 17 total hits. Their first run came in the top of the first after a double and single allowed a run to cross the plate.
The top of the second was when their offense exploded. Collecting seven hits, with a solo and three-run homerun, one of which was the first of Lady Mulerider Sarah Evan’s two in the game. They tallied ten total runs to take an 11-0 lead through two innings.
The Red-and-Black answered with two runs of their own on three hits to cut the lead 11-2. Flowers was hit by a pitch to start the inning followed by back-to-back singles that led to a third two-RBI single from Detar.
Southern Arkansas answered back with Sarah Evan’s second homerun of the game, a solo shot over the left-field to extend the lead 12-2. Unfortunately, for Northwestern the Lady Muleriders were just getting started as they tallied nine more runs in the top of the fourth on five hits and two Ranger errors. Back-to-back homeruns from SAU started the rally and created a 21-2 score.
The Rangers were unable to score any more runs through their last two half-innings and took their final loss of the season with a score of 21-2.
Northwestern’s next game is Friday, March 6th against the University of Arkansas at Monticello. Northwestern will travel to Monticello, Ark., with the first doubleheader of the four-game series to be played at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m.