CONWAY, Ark. – The Central Arkansas softball team was back on the diamond for the final day of the Adam Brown Memorial Shamrock Classic on Saturday. The Bears completed the perfect weekend and improved to 11-7 on the season with an 8-0 victory over UAPB (0-6), followed by an 11-0 win against Western Michigan (2-4).
UCA improved to 4-0 on the weekend behind outstanding pitching and an offensive outburst. The Bears compiled 19 runs on 25 hits across the two games and the pitching stuff surrendered just three hits.
Game One UCA 8, UAPB 0
Jenna Wildeman got the home half of the first started with a single up the middle and then stole second.
Mary Kate Brown singled through the left side and drove in Wildeman from third. Brown advanced to third on a passed ball. After the catcher dropped the third strike and had to make a throw to first as
Cylla Hill tried to reach safely, Brown was able to score from third.
Erin Acors drew a four-pitch walk.
Lexi McClellan doubled to left center and put runners on second and third with two outs. After
Emily Sampson was hit by a pitch to load the bases,
Kristen Whitehouse drew a walk and scored Acors from third.
Reagan Sperling drew another walk for the Bears and scored McClellan to extend the UCA lead to 4-0.
In the Bottom of the third, Sperling notched a two-out single and then stole second to move into scoring position. After a wild pitch moved Sperling to third, Wildeman laid down a perfect bunt for a single and scored Sperling. Brown followed with a single up the middle to plate Wildeman. Brown advanced to second on a wild pitch and then
Megan Crownover drove her in with a single up the middle. The Bears took a 7-0 lead into the top of the fourth.
Erin Blackburn got the home half of the fifth started with a double down the left field line and advanced to third on a throwing error.
Lindsey Williams recorded a walk-off single through the right side as the run she drove in activated the run rule.
Rio Sanchez got the win in the circle for UCA and improved to 4-2 on the season. She recorded eight strikeouts in the complete-game effort and only gave up two hits. Wildeman and Brown both went two-for-three at the plate with two runs scored.
Alexis Smith fell to 0-2 on the season with four innings in the circle for UAPB. She struck out two batters, but walked four and gave up seven runs, six of which were earned. Paola Rodriguez added one inning of relief with two strikeouts, one walk, and one unearned run.
Game Two UCA 11, Western Michigan 0
Jordan Johnson got the start in the circle for game two of the day and started strong as she struck out two of the first three batters for the Broncos.
Brown produced a one-out double to left field and then stole third to move one base closer to scoring. After she battled to a 2-2 count,
Kaylyn Shepherd capitalized on the next pitch as she blasted an absolute no doubter over the center field wall and put UCA up 2-0 early in the first. After Hill drew a walk, Blackburn singled to third and Hill was able to advance to third on a throwing error. Blackburn stole second.
Tylar Vernon singled up the middle and picked up two RBIs. The Bears finished the first inning with a 5-0 lead.
After Wildeman led the bottom of the second with an infield single, she stole second and third. Brown got a pitch she liked and launched an opposite-field homer over the left field wall. After a pitching change, Shepherd crushed her second home run of the game to center field and put UCA up 8-0 after two.
Sperling notched a one-out single to right center in the home half of the third and then moved into scoring position as she stole second. Wildeman singled to third and advanced on a throwing error by the third baseman, which allowed Sperling to score. Wildeman stole third. Brown nearly picked up her second homer of the game, but recorded a double off of the left field wall and scored Wildeman from third.
With the Bears up 10-0 in the bottom of the fourth,
Tremere Harris singled through the left side and then stole second.
Gabbi Scott followed with a double down the left field line and scored Harris from second. That is all the runs the Bears would need as the run rule was enacted after the top of the fifth.
Johnson produced another dominant appearance in the circle as she followed her perfect game with a one-hit shutout and improved to 3-3 on the year. She tallied nine strikeouts in just five innings of work. Shepherd finished the game with two home runs and three RBIs. Brown went 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBIs and two runs scored.
Reily Galloway picked up the loss with seven earned runs in just one inning of work. Autumn Godwin added three innings in relief and struck out three batters.
The Bears return to Farris Field for a Monday contest with Lyon College at 4 p.m. It will be the first time in program history that a head coach at UCA has coached against his or her child as a head coach for an opposing team.
From the Coach – Head Coach David Kuhn
"What an exciting weekend for the Bears! Four wins on a weekend in which we honored Adam Brown and had our military appreciation. We got great starting pitching from Rio, Beaver, and Jordan. We played stellar defense all weekend and were really good offensively."
Follow the Bears
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
