ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Arkansas-Monticello claimed a series win in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader with a 10-8 win after eight innings before Henderson State picked up a 3-2 victory in the second contest of the day to split the twin bill.
 
In the first game, Jorika Alvarez led the team at the plate with four hits, including three singles and a double, and had two runs driven and scored one. Hilary Akers went 3-of-5 with an RBI, while Brooke Johnson went 3-4 with two runs scored.
 
Alvarez added two more hits to her totals in game two and finished the day with six hits. Mackenzie Williams and Josie Copeland also saw two hits each in game two of the doubleheader, and Williams recorded an RBI and scored a run. Presley Applegate got her second win of the season in the circle, pitching 6.2 shutout frames and allowing just four hits.
 
GAME ONE: UAM 10, HSU 8
Henderson and Arkansas-Monticello were deadlocked 1-1 after the first inning, and in the following frame, the Blossoms would send nine batters to the plate and score four runs on four hits to take a 5-1 lead. The Reddies responded in the bottom half of the second with a 3-run inning to cut the lead to one, 5-4.
 
After Johnson and Addison Tidwell each notched a single, Alvarez sent a hit up the middle to plate the first run. One batter later, Akers singled to center field to score another run before Justine Burch recorded an RBI-single to plate the final run of the frame, 5-4.
 
The Reddies soon took the lead in the bottom of the third, adding two more runs to their score to go ahead 6-5. Copeland began the inning with a single, and Johnson scored the leadoff runner with a knock to center field. Johnson eventually made it home after a single by Alvarez to give Henderson the lead.
 
UAM and HSU swapped leads in the fourth after both sides posted two-run frames, as Henderson held a one-run edge 8-7. Both sides posted scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth before UAM added a run in the top of the seventh to tie the game 8-all.
 
Into extra innings, the Blossoms scored two runs in the top of the eighth, pushing ahead 10-8, and the Reddies would go down in order in the bottom half as UAM took the second game of the series.
 
GAME TWO: HSU 3, UAM2
The Blossoms led early after taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the first after chaining together three hits. HSU had a chance to match UAM in the bottom half with two runners on and one out, but Arkansas-Monticello would escape undamaged after back-to-back outs by the red-and-grey.
 
Following UAM's early flurry in the first, both sides were kept quiet for the next three innings, as both sets of pitchers provided three scoreless innings.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, after being kept in check for most of the game, HSU got a leadoff runner on with a single by Williams. A walk by Akers put runners on first and second with no outs, and on the next at-bat, a throwing error by UAM's third baseman scored Williams from second to cut the Blossoms' lead to 2-1. The Reddies tied the game in the following frame on a double off the bat of Williams to score McMahan from second and tie the game 2-2.
 
Relief pitcher Applegate retired the side in order in the top of the seventh and allowed the Henderson bats to put the pressure on UAM with runners on second and third with one out following a double by Copeland. HSU loaded the bases on a walk by McMahan, and the winning run was brought home after Emylee Bittinger was hit by a pitch to walk off the game 3-2.
 
HSU (17-24, 8-15 GAC) remains at home for a game on Tuesday against rivals Ouachita Baptist at 5 p.m. on Apr. 9.