BATON ROUGE, La. – Day Two of LSU's Tiger Classic started with heartbreak but ended with jubilation for the Central Arkansas softball team. The Bears were stunned on a walk-off hit in the first game of the day against Illinois, before a back-and-forth affair with No. 14 LSU came to a 3-2 final in favor of the Bears.
The win over LSU was a milestone for the program in a number of ways. Head coach
Jenny Parsons earned her first win as head coach of the Bears, after taking the reigns of the program prior to this season. Secondly, the triumph marked the first time that Central Arkansas has beaten LSU, doing so this time as the road team. Finally, it also marked the highest-ranked win for the program, taking down a top-15 program for the first time in school history. It was also the sixth win over a top-25 program in program history.
Jaylee Engelkes played the part of the hero against LSU, launching a solo shot in the fourth to put the Bears on the board. She followed it up with a double in the seventh to score the game-winning run. Pitcher
Kayla Beaver picked up her first win of the season, scattering seven hits through seven innings, but only allowing two runs to an LSU team that had scored 15 runs through its first three games.
Game One – Central Arkansas 1, Illinois 2
After facing each other's lineups a day ago, both pitching staffs came in familiar with the other's lineups and it showed. Until the fifth inning, neither team pieced together two baserunners in the same inning.
The Bears finally opened the scoring in the fifth inning.
Lexi McClellan reached base on an infield single before getting moved to third on a defensive error on
Kylie Griffin's at bat, moving runners into scoring position.
Tremere Harris then bunted in McClellan on the next at bat.
Just a 1-0 lead, that score would hold until the bottom of the seventh, when the Illini would capitalize on a walk with a two-run homer in the next at bat.
Game Two – Central Arkansas 3, #14 LSU 2
Central Arkansas started the game against the Tigers with a sequence that had taken place numerous times throughout the weekend, namely, get a runner on base, move her into scoring position, and be unable to score the run. Getting on base hadn't been the issue for the Bears, it was following through and bringing runners home.
LSU struck first in the third inning. After a single put a runner on, a sacrifice bunt moved her to second base. From there, a double into left center put the Tigers on top.
In the next half-inning, lead-off hitter Engelkes launched one over the right center wall to even things up. The Bears put another pair of runners on base, but couldn't break it open and take the lead. Central Arkansas would finally take the lead in the fifth inning, taking advantage of pitching mishaps from the Tigers. After a four-pitch walk to Wildeman, Harris singled through the left side to put two runners on with no outs. A passed ball by LSU advanced the pair into scoring position and another passed ball scored Wildeman.
LSU tied things up in the sixth with back-to-back doubles, driving in the Tigers' second run of the evening with no outs. From there, Beaver pitched around a runner in scoring position, retiring three of the next four to keep it a tied ballgame.
Into the seventh, Central Arkansas' first two batters struck out, leaving the Bears in trouble of getting nothing in a tied seventh inning. The foundation of the game-winning inning was set when Harris knocked an infield single.
Mary Kate Brown, who struggled for much of the game, held on and reached on a fielding error, advancing Harris to second. In stepped Engelkes, who delivered a double down the left field line to drive in Harris, giving the Bears a 3-2 lead. From there, Beaver forced a couple of fly outs from the LSU lineup, clinching the win in complete game fashion.
Central Arkansas plays one more game in the Tiger Classic, a rematch against LSU tomorrow at 12:30 p.m.
