Box Score Henderson State fought back from a 5-0 defeat to East Central earlier in the day to beat Arkansas Tech 8-5 and advance to the Great American Conference Softball Tournament championship game.
The Reddies will meet up again with East Central on Saturday beginning at Noon, with Henderson State having to beat the Tigers twice to claim the championship.
Fans can view the game on the GAC Sports Network at www.gacsportsnetwork.com or by logging on to the HSU athletic website at www.hsusports.com.
After managing just three hits in Friday's first game against ECU, Henderson State clubbed out 12 hits and rallied to score three runs in the fifth inning and two more runs in the sixth to beat ATU for the fifth time this season.
The win gives Henderson State a school record 40 victories while only suffering 12 defeats on the season.
A virtual lock to make the NCAA Central Regionals next week, Henderson State set numerous other milestones in the late-night victory over Arkansas Tech.
Sarah Gipson collected three hits in the game, giving her 79 on the season to set the HSU single-season record, surpassing Kelcie Glidden's mark of 78 set in 2008.
In addition,
Amy Halter, who has 10 hits in the tournament, became only the third Reddie to record 200 career hits.
Keirsten Seahorn plated the first run for the Reddies with a sacrifice fly to score Halter who singled earlier in the inning.
Gipson would then single and score on an RBI double by
Taylor Daniels.
After Arkansas Tech tied the score at 2-2 in the bottom of the inning, the Reddies would load the bases in the second with no outs and manage a single run on a Halter fielder's choice.
Tech would again answer with a run in the bottom of the second inning to tie the score at 3-3.
The Golden Suns, 40-20 on the year, would claim their first lead of the game when Ashley Edinger singled to left field to score Chelsea Reeves who reached when she was hit by a pitch.
The Reddies would regain the lead in the top of the fifth inning scoring three runs in the frame.
Gipson led things off with a single to right field with
Alison Waggoner coming in to pinch run.
Seahorn reached on an infield single with Waggoner moving to second base on the play.
Daniels would smack a liner to the right side that was misplayed by the Tech first baseman, which would allow Waggoner to score and Seahorn to advance to third.
With runners on the corners,
Morgan South would lay down a sacrifice bunt that would advance Daniels to second and plate Seahorn to put Henderson State up 5-4.
The final run would score when
Caroline Cullins reached on a fielder's choice to score Daniels.
Tech would cut the deficit to 6-5 with a run in the bottom half of the inning.
However, HSU would score two runs in the top of the sixth inning.
With one out, Halter again reached on an infield single and stole second for her 29th stolen base of the season.
Gipson then collected her third hit of the game with a double down the left-field line to score Halter.
The senior from Grand Saline, Texas would score on Daniels' second hit of the game.
After shutting down Arkansas Tech in the sixth inning,
Michelle Sorensen walked Whitney Robinson to lead off the inning, then would go on to strike out the side to preserve the win and advance the Reddies to the title game.
Sorensen entered the game in relief of
Ali Hargis, appearing for the fourth time in the tournament to pick up the win and improve to 19-9 on the season.
Aside from Gipson's big day, Halter ended with a pair of hits as well as Daniels and
Courtney Warren.
Saturday's championship appearance will be Henderson's second in the last three years. The Reddies finished as runners-up in 2013 falling to Southeastern Oklahoma.
