MONTICELLO, Ark. – Henderson State kept it close for most of day one, but back-to-back homers in the first game from Arkansas-Monticello and four errors from HSU in the second game had the Blossoms take both games of the first day of the series.
GAME ONE
Henderson State got on the board in the team's second at-bat with a
Monica Monreal double to right field bringing in Jordan for the first score of the game. Jordan also gave HSU its first hit to get things going in the top of the second. In the bottom of the inning, Arkansas-Monticello found its first score of the game, ending the second frame at a draw, 1-1.
Savannah Carrigan did a solid job keeping the Blossoms at bay through the first four innings, registering two strikeouts and only yielding six hits to UAM for one run. The bottom of the fifth, however, is when Monticello broke things open, seeing five runs as
Becca Almond came in to relieve Carrigan.
With the score 6-1 in favor of the Blossoms, a second home run from UAM – this time a 3-run bomb – brought the conference contest to 9-1 and spelled the end of game one in Monticello, Arkansas.
GAME TWO
Mallory Brewer started on the mound in the second contest of the day, retiring two UAM batters by way of strikeout through one scoreless inning. On the offensive side of things, HSU was responsible for three hits through the first three innings, yet was unable to do anything with it as the Reddies left five runners on base through the first three frames.
The inability to take advantage of the high on-base percentage caught up to Henderson as Monticello put together back-to-back one-running innings in the second and third inning, taking the 2-0 lead all the way to the 6th inning.
After one run was scored by the host team in the bottom of the sixth, with it looking like UAM was about to break things open with bases-loaded on only one out, Brewer kept the Reddies' hopes alive as the junior pitcher was able to throw her girls out of the inning with a 3-0 deficit facing HSU heading into the final at-bat for the visiting-Reddies.
Despite cutting the deficit to two runs in the top of the seventh, a line-out to left field closed the deal, giving Monticello the 3-1 win in game two. Henderson (1-10, 0-5) will return to Alvy Early Softball Field tomorrow at 11 a.m. for the final game of the series.
