BENTONVILLE, Ark. – In the late games from Day 1 of the Great American Conference Softball Tournament, Southeastern remained unscathed in the winners’ bracket, East Central took a loss from the upset-minded Henderson State, and Southwestern saw its season come to an end.
Also, due to inclement weather in the area, no games will be played on Friday.
“Last night’s rain, as well as a forecast that calls for additional inclement weather throughout the day creates conditions unfit for a conference tournament,” GAC Commissioner Will Prewitt said. “With warmer and drier weather in the forecast, we decided to push the tournament back 24 hours.”
Southeastern 5, Arkansas-Monticello 3
Courtney Riddle doubled with the bases loaded in the second inning for Southeastern, bringing in three runs and upping the Storm lead to 5-0 at that point. UAM got three back on SOSU in the fourth inning. But Mindy McElroy came on in relief for SOSU and the Cotton Blossoms did not score again. McElroy picked up second win of the day.
Southeastern is now 42-7 and will meet Henderson State at 3 p.m.
Henderson State 6, East Central 5
The sixth seeded Lady Reddies upset two higher seeds on Thursday. Each team scored four in the third and were knotted at five apiece going into the seventh inning. Amber Wilson homered off Lacey Paulk in the final inning, sending the Lady Tigers (40-12) to the losers’ bracket to face Southern Arkansas at 1 p.m. on Saturday. ECU and SAU split in four meeting this season.
Southern Arkansas 5, Southwestern 0
The Lady Dawgs were very close to toppling the top seed in their first outing, but didn’t score against Southern Arkansas in their second game of the day. In fact, SAU’s Hanna Gill pitched a no-hitter in the nightcap. Southwestern ends the season at 16-36.