COMMERCE – The No. 2 Texas A&M University-Commerce softball team took a 5-2 win in dramatic fashion over No. 9 Southern Arkansas University on Wednesday. The day was scheduled to be a doubleheader before lightning and incoming storms claimed the second game.
 
The Lions are now 19-4 on the season, while the Muleriders are 9-4. The Lions move their winning streak to 15 games, which is the second-longest active streak in the nation and second-longest in program history.
 
A&M-Commerce returns to action on Friday with a Lone Star Conference doubleheader against Lubbock Christian beginning at 4 p.m. at the John Cain Family Softball Field.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Madison Schaefer (Frisco – Independence) reached base on all four opportunities, scoring three times. She hit a three-run homer in the sixth and went 2-for-2 with two walks and three steals.
- Samantha Dutton (Tulsa, Okla.) had an RBI double in the sixth.
- Mackenzie Dugi (St. Hedwig – East Central), Kinsie Hebler (Cy-Falls), and Chealsea Slider (Texarkana - Texas High) had the Lions' other three hits.
- Emily Otto (Lamar Consolidated) moved her record to 7-2 on the season, allowing two runs on five hits with eight strikeouts and a walk in 6.0 innings. Alyssa LeBlanc (Katy) earned her first save of the year, with two strikeouts, a hit, and two walks in a scoreless seventh.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Schaefer forced the issue immediately for the Lions, drawing a walk and stealing second and third. She scored on a Uxua Modrego (Burlada, Spain) sacrifice bunt.
 
Otto allowed only three baserunners in the first five innings, with only one reaching scoring position. The Lions stranded five runners in scoring position in innings two through four, but extended the lead in the fifth. Scahefer singled to left, Dugi beat out a bunt single, and the duo moved to scoring position on Modrego's sacrifice bunt. Avery Boley (Fort Worth – Nolan Catholic) lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to give the Lions a 2-0 lead.
 
The Muleriders tied the game in the sixth when Laina Suesue blooped a single to left and scored when Faith Otts snuck a two-run homer just over the left-center fence with one out.
 
With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Ta'Lyn Moody (Mansfield – Legacy) drew a walk and scored on Dutton's double. Schaefer provided the insurance runs, blasting her seventh homer of the year to left for a 5-2 lead.
 
LeBlanc entered in a save situation and the bases loaded with a single and two walks, but she induced a groundout with the go-ahead run at the plate, ending the game and giving the Lions their sixth win over a nationally-ranked opponent this season.
 
The nightcap was a wild one, with five Mulerider runs in the first two innings, and three SAU ejections. Mother Nature visited in the bottom of the fifth and the game was called off before the game was official. Dugi and Slider each had two hits in the game, unofficially.