Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
Arkadelphia, Ark. – The SBU Softball team visited Arkadelphia Arkansas to take part in the Ronnie Hawkins Invitational. The Bearcats fell 2-4 in game one against Missouri S&T, and fell 7-0 against the #2 nationally ranked Southern Arkansas. SBU begins the season 0-2 (0-0 MIAA).
 
Game One
Alexis Dock took the mound for SBU in their season opener. The Miners brought the offense early, scoring two quick runs with no outs in the first inning. A 6-4-3 double play gave the Bearcats two outs, but a third run scored on the play. The inning ended with a ground ball to Alexis Dock.
 
SBU's first run of the season came in the third inning. Kori Hillenburg drew a walk with one out to give the offense a spark. Yezzania Gonzalez was the next batter, and she took 4 balls as well, advancing Hillenburg to second and putting Gonzalez on first. The Miners got a second out, but Sam Moran hit a single to drive in Hillenburg, making the score 3-1 going to the bottom of the third.
 
Both teams were quiet until the bottom of the 6^th, where Missouri S&T scored their fourth run on an RBI single. The Bearcats responded in the top of the 7^th, scoring Yezzania Gonzalez on a Sam Moran sacrifice fly, but that would be all SBU would get, falling 4-2 to the Miners.
 
Megan Schellert, Emily Hall, and Sam Moran each had a hit. Moran drove in both runs, and Yezzania Gonzalez walked twice, scoring one run.
 
Game Two
The Southern Arkansas Lady Muleriders came into the game ranked #2 in the nation. Kaylee Schmidli got the nod for game two, retiring the first three hitters in order to start the game. Southern Arkansas began the second with a single and a walk, but a groundout and two strikeouts got SBU out of the jam.
 
The bats were quiet for the Bearcats, but continued to play well defensively. SBU surrendered an unearned run in the third, but quickly got out of the inning following the run.
 
The top of the fourth began with a ground out to Yezzania Gonzalez. The next batter hit a single, but Schmidli struck out the next. The Lady Muleriders then singled home a run, but ended the inning with another strikeout.
 
Southern Arkansas would score 5 more runs before the end of the game, generating a final score of 7-0. Kaylee Schmidli pitched 5.0 innings, giving up just 1 earned run, and striking out 5 in the loss.
 
Day two of the Invitational begins at 9 AM for the Bearcats, taking on Drury University. They will also play Rogers State at 1 PM.