Game 1 | Game 2

MONTICELLO, Ark. – The UAM Cotton Blossom extended their 16-game winning streak today with a pair of victories over former GSC-rival Delta State, though they needed extra innings in game two to do it.

Game one of the doubleheader went according to plan, as Kayla Jackson recorded her 104^th career win with her second complete game-shutouts in as many starts. The Blossoms’ (30-10) ace gave up just three hits to the Lady Statesmen (17-23).

UAM managed to rack up 13 on the day, including two five-hit innings in the second and sixth to seal the win with four runs in each frame. Taylor Russell got things going in the second with a leadoff homer. Then, with one out in the inning Summer Huddleston kept the inning alive after reaching first after a third-strike passed ball got away from the DSU pitcher. The Blossoms went on to get three more runs in the frame to open the ballgame up, 4-0.

The Blossoms got the six inning finish in the sixth inning thanks to four more runs off five hits that pushed the score to the eight-after-five rule. Huddleston, Jackson, and Russell each had RBIs in the inning.

Game two took a little more time and effort. The Blossoms got on the board first in the second inning thanks to a Jennifer Hickman sacrifice fly to left that plated Taylor Russell from third. Delta came back in the third with two runs to take their first lead of the day off a sac bunt and a sac fly of their own, 2-1.

The Delta State lead was pushed as high as 4-1 before the Blossoms began to chip their way back into contention. They got one run back in the home half of the fourth thanks to a wild pitch that brought in Kayla Jackson from third. Jackson got another run for UAM in the fifth with a single to center that scored Maggie Sands. UAM tied the game in the sixth with a sac fly to center by Beth Johnson that scored Sara Matthews from third.

With the game knotted at 4-4, both teams went scoreless in the eighth. Then, in the bottom of the eighth, the Blossoms got the lead back and kept their streak alive. With runners on second and third and two outs Beth Johnson scorched a single to left that brought in Sara Matthews for the win.

Kayla Jackson got the win in game two as well, this time going 3.2 innings in relief for Katie Slaughter and Haleigh Winnon. The senior gave up just one hit with no walks and five strikeouts in 13 batters faced. She improves to 21-4 on the season with a career record 105 wins.

The Blossoms will return to GAC play this weekend as they travel to Durant, Oklahoma to take on the Southeastern Oklahoma Savage Storm in a weekend four-game series. The first doubleheader starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.