GAME ONE:

Henderson State battled Arkansas Tech for 19 innings and nearly four hours, but freshman centerfielder Alyssa Dixon blasted a solo shot over the left field fence in the bottom of the 19th to give the Reddies a 3-2 win and put a quick end to the longest game in Great American Conference history and the third-longest game ever at the NCAA DII level.

The Reddies got on the board first in the bottom of the fourth when Dixon tripled off the wall in the right field gap to score Keirsten Seahorn, but in the top of the fifth, ATU's Janie Knowles was hit by a pitch and Tech was able to bunt the pinch runner Alix Boulanger all the way around to tie it 1-1. The Golden Suns threatened again in the top of the sixth and got a runner to third base with two outs, but the batter grounded out to Olivia Trapp and after neither team could score in the seventh, the game moved into extra innings.

After battling for three more frames, it looked as though Tech had broken through in the top of the 11th, when Jalissa Gum mashed a ball off of the right field-foul pole to give the Golden Suns a 2-1 lead and the upper hand with the Reddies coming to the plate. Down to their final three outs and needing a run to stay alive, Henderson's Alexis Morton got a hold of a pitch and drove it into left center, where it barely escaped the outstretched arm of the ATU centerfielder Sydnie Henson and went over the wall to tie the game 2-2 and give the Reddies new life in the game.

In the bottom of the 13th, Morton nearly walked off for Henderson, when she hit an almost identical drive to her homerun in left-center, but this time the ball was snagged at the top of the wall by the Golden Suns' centerfielder Henson to end the HSU threat. 

The Reddies had another big chance in the bottom of the 16th, when Mendoza singled and then Ashleigh Erb hit a line drive into the gap in left center, giving Mendoza a chance to score. Trying to end the game right there, Henderson sent Mendoza around third, but after a great throw from the outfield, she was tagged out at the plate, leaving Erb on third with two outs. With Dixon at the plate, HSU tried to catch the Golden Suns off guard by attempting to score Erb on a squeeze bunt. Dixon's bunt was perfectly placed between the pitcher and the first baseman, causing the first baseman to come off of the bag and the pitcher, Gum, to hesitate on the throw. On the hesitation it appeared that Dixon beat out the throw to first, sending the Reddies bench into wild celebration believing they had won. The celebration was short-lived, though, as the umpire said the throw beat her to the bag, which ended the inning despite the Henderson bench vigorously contesting the call.

Despite the questionable call taking away momentum, Henderson continued to battle and create scoring chances over the next two innings. The Reddies had runners in scoring position in both the 17th and 18th innings, but were unable to bring them home, as the game climbed into its 19th inning of play. In the top of the 19th, the Golden Suns' leadoff batter, Megan Goodnight, doubled into the gap in left center and then was bunted over to third, leaving ATU with a runner on third base and just one out. Henderson again found a way out of the inning unscathed, though, after Michelle Sorensen recorded her 21st strikeout of the game for the second out, and Erb made a great play to throw out the Golden Suns' batter, Vasquez, to survive the threat and send HSU back to the plate.

In the bottom of the 19th, the Reddies' first batter, Erb, popped up to the second baseman, but the second batter, Dixon, finally broke through. On the first pitch she saw, Dixon hammered the ball well over the left field fence, setting off a wild celebration and finally ending one of the longest games in the history of DII softball in the Reddies' favor, 3-2. 

The pitchers from both teams were prolific in the marathon game, as each went the distance - Gum 18.1 innings of work and Sorensen with a GAC-record 19 innings pitched. Sorensen struck out a career-high 21 batters and got the win while allowing just eight hits, while Gum struck out a GAC-record 23 batters in defeat. Both pitchers broke the previous conference record of 20 strikeouts in a game and both faced over 70 batters on the afternoon.

The contest shattered the record for longest game in GAC history, outlasting a 14-inning contest back in 2015 between HSU and Harding by five full innings and falling just short of the all-time DII record length of 21 innings.

GAME TWO:

ATU got on the board early in the top of the first inning and then tacked on two more runs late to pull away for a 5-2 win over Henderson State in the second game of Sunday's doubleheader. 

The Golden Suns scored two runs in the first when Goodnight singled to bring home Gum and Vasquez and make it 2-0 ATU. Tech tacked on another run in the top of the fourth after a leadoff double from Goodnight and a singled from Sarah LaChance to bring her home.

Down 3-0, Henderson rallied in the bottom of the fifth when Destiny Garza came in to pinch hit and doubled down the left field line to score Erb and Rebekah Teel and cut the lead to just 3-2.

The Golden Suns extended their lead, though, in the top of the seventh on another double from Goodnight, which again plated Vasquez and Gum to push ATU's lead back out to 5-2. The Reddies tried to rally one last time in the bottom half of the inning, but went down in order as the Golden Suns took it 5-2.

The Reddies play a second double-header against Arkansas Tech tomorrow at Dee White Field, beginning at 2 p.m.