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SOUTHERN NAZARENE KNOCKS OFF TOP-SEEDED SAU AT GAC CHAMPIONSHIPS

By: Eric Moyer, GAC Communications

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CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL | BENTONVILLE, Ark. – Over the past four years, Southern Arkansas’ Brooke Goad has etched her name across the Great American Conference and Division II record books as one its most decorated players. However, in Friday’s GAC Softball Championships contest between Goad’s Lady Muleriders and Southern Nazarene, a fellow Brooke, Crimson Storm freshman Brooke Stutz, delivered in the biggest moment with a two-run pinch-hit single that carried the Crimson Storm to a 5-4 win against the top-seeded Lady Muleriders from the Tiger Athletic Complex in Bentonville, Arkansas.
 
The reserve freshman, hitting .211 as she stepped into the box, picked up just the ninth hit of her career, as Southern Nazarene (26-26-1) rallied for four runs in the fifth inning. The two RBI represented her first multi-RBI game since February 18.
 
The Crimson Storm took advantage of a one-out error by the Lady Mulerider (50-8) defense to tie the game. One out later, Kriston Shumaker knocked in Kaley Knox as they retook the lead in advance of Stutz’s at bat.
 
The resilient Lady Muleriders answered with a run in the sixth, a solo home run by Sarah Pitre, to close the margin to 5-3. An inning later, Goad added to another record to her résumé as she launched her 28th home run of the season. Goad, already the owner of the DII career record for home runs, tied the single-season mark, set previously by Florida Gulf Coast’s Carmen Paez, in 2007, and Humboldt State’s Chrissy Stalf, in 2013.
 
SAU put the tying run on base when Rachel Miller singled following the Goad home run. Crimson Storm starter Katelyn Brown buckled down by retiring Monica Islava, Faith Otts and Marina Duran in order. She picked up her second win of the 2018 GAC Championships, and her sixth in the last two years. She stuck out seven and increased her GAC-leading total to 229.
 
Southern Nazarene will face Arkansas Tech at 11 a.m. on Saturday from the Tiger Athletic Complex. The Crimson Storm and Golden Suns split a four-game set during the regular season. At the 2017 GAC Championships, the two met twice with SNU eliminating Tech in the second meeting.