Henderson State's hopes of a Great American Conference Tournament title stayed alive as the Reddie softball team defeated Southern Nazarene 2-1 on Saturday afternoon in Bentonville, Ark.

HSU would get on the board first when Hope Patterson hit a sacrifice fly to center field which plated Shayla Wright from third base to give the Reddies a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning.

The Reddies then extended their lead to two runs in the bottom of the fourth on an outfield error by SNU that scored Morgan South from second base.

On the play, Ashleigh Erb blasted a shot to deep center field that was dropped by the SNU center fielder which allowed South to advance home.

Southern Nazarene would answer by tacking on a run in the top of the fifth, as Hannah LeBeau singled to right center field to score Hope Martin with one out on the board.

HSU would close out the inning with two straight outs, however, to keep a one-run lead heading into the bottom of the inning.

Neither team would score in the sixth, and Michelle Sorensen would once again come through in the circle for the Reddies by retiring three straight batters to close out the seventh inning and the victory for HSU.

Sorensen pitched a complete game for HSU, giving up just three hits while striking out nine batters and improving her season record to 21-11.

SNU's Kayla Wyatt suffered the loss to end the season with a 19-15 record from the circle.

The Reddies finished the contest cranking out four hits, including two from Olivia Trapp and one each from South and Wright.

Henderson State will advance to play Arkansas Tech in the 7 p.m. game on Saturday evening, immediately following the Southern Arkansas/Harding winner's bracket game.