CONWAY, Ark. – Back on the road for another ASUN series, the Central Arkansas softball team heads to Louisville, Ky., to take on the Bellarmine Knights. The Bears will play a three-game series against the Knights, with a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 12 p.m. CT and a Sunday matinee at 10 a.m. CT.
The Bears go into the weekend with a 28-8 record and an 11-1 mark in conference, with wins in all four series played thus far, including three sweeps. Central Arkansas heads to Louisville fresh off a season sweep of No. 11 Arkansas, defeating the Razorbacks at home on Tuesday. The shutout win was headlined by
Kayla Beaver's eight strikeout, zero walk effort, striking out the side in the first and sixth innings. Beaver was in control the entire stretch, dominating the lineup much like
Jordan Johnson did in the road win against the Hogs back in March. Aside from the on-field success by the Bears, Tuesday was highlighted by a Farris Field record 2,475 fans in attendance, more than doubling the previous facility-high. It was the culmination of a season of building success for the program, which started ticketing select games this season, including Tuesday's win over the Razorbacks.
With the win, Beaver captured her 15
th win of the season, reaching the win total for the third-straight season. Her eight strikeouts increased her season total to 137, the third-most in the ASUN. Johnson sits right behind her on the conference leaderboards, striking out 114 of her own batters. The duo is the only pair of pitchers in the conference with 100-plus strikeouts each, helping the Bears to be the only ASUN program with 250 strikeouts credited to its pitching staff.
At the plate, the Bears came away with seven hits against Arkansas, outhitting the Hogs 7-5. The offense has found more success since the turn of conference play, with three batters at or over .350, led by
Tremere Harris' .474. The junior outfielder has a team-best 18 hits in 12 conference games, and has successfully stolen seven bases.
Kylie Griffin and
Madi Young, the left side of the infield, have been terrors for opposing batters, combining for 71 fielding opportunities, numbers one and two in assists during league games.
Bellarmine hosts the Bears with a 4-32 record, winning one of its 12 ASUN games. The Knights are currently on a five-game losing streak but did score four runs in their midweek game against No. 17 Kentucky. After surrendering a run in the top of the first, Bellarmine answered right back with a two-run home run off the bat of Megan Konermann, briefly taking a lead over the ranked Wildcats. Later in the game, Alexis Hargrove also homered, driving in two more runs.
The Knights have struggled on both sides of the ball, hitting .182 at a team and allowing opponents to hit .319. Chloe Collins leads the team at the plate among qualifying starters, hitting .257 with a team-best seven home runs. The sophomore slugger accounts for half of the long balls hit by the Knights this season. But the inconsistency of Bellarmine hitters has led to a number of changes on the defensive side as well, 14 players have started at least eight games, with only five starting at least 30 of the team's 36 contests.
In the circle, the Knights have leaned on Claire Lehmkuhler, who has thrown 117.1 of the squad's 223.0 innings. With 20 starts, Lehmkuhler has a 2-17 record, holding a 5.01 ERA with 84 strikeouts. She's thrown eight complete games and has the team's only shutout, a 1-0 win over UT Martin.
This weekend's games start on Saturday with a doubleheader at 12 p.m. CT. Game three of the series is on Sunday at 10 a.m. CT. All three games will be streamed on the BU Knights Sports Network, and live stats are also available for all games.
