Tweet #theGAC  BENTONVILLE, Ark. – Harding’s Jenna Hipp recorded the fourth no-hitter in Great American Conference Softball Championship history as the Lady Bisons eliminated Southern Nazarene, 8-0 in five innings, on Friday from the Tiger Athletic Complex.
 
Hipp improved to 17-6 as struck out two batters and retired the final 10 batters she faced. She joined Southern Arkansas’ Hanna Gill, Henderson State’s Michelle Sorensen and Arkansas Tech’s Jalissa Gum as the four pitchers with no-hitters in Championship history.
 
Harding (35-22) took an early lead as the Lady Bisons plated an unearned run in the first inning. The best scoring threat for the Crimson Storm (25-30) came in the top of the second inning when they had two runners on for Kai Sanchez. Hipp, however, began her streak of consecutive retired batters as she induced a fly out to Peyton Mills.
 
Harding began tacking on insurance runs in the home half of the fourth inning. Madison Leggett drove in Hanna Jones and she scored on a Kyndal Pirtle single.
 
The Lady Bisons closed out the opening-round win as they rallied in the fifth inning. With two outs, six straight hitters reached safely. Mason McCord drove in a pair in single to right center. Lindsey Duncan chased home Leggett with a single to center. A fielding error by Southern Nazarene’s Madison Arnold brought home the seventh run. Bailey Feringa ended the game with base hit down the left-field line to score Pirtle.
 
Four Lady Bisons – Pirtle, Duncan, Feringa and Leggett tallied multi-hit games. They also successfully stole six bases in the victory.
 
With the win, Harding advances to Saturday’s semifinal round. The Lady Bisons will face Arkansas Tech or Southwestern Oklahoma State in Saturday’s first semifinal contest, slated to start at 3:30 p.m. During the regular season, the Golden Suns won three of four while the Lady Bisons and Lady Bulldogs split their four-game set.