OXFORD, Ala. – Eight innings, one run, one win in the books. The Central Arkansas softball team started its ASUN Championship with a dramatic finish in its opening game against Queens, going to extra innings with no score. Thankfully, a productive eighth inning from the top of the order carried the Bears to victory, starting the ASUN Championship on the right foot.
 
Lilly Hood played the role of hero in game one, as the sophomore drove in the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the eighth to improve the Bears to 25-25-1. Bailie Runner and Julia Petty combined for a shutout, with Petty earning her 14^th win of the season.
 
Neither side put a runner on in the first inning, which turned out to be a sign of things to come. Queens recorded its first hit in the second, but couldn't make anything out of it. Likewise, the first hit of the game for the Bears came in the home half of the second inning, with Gracie St. Hilaire punching a single to right field, but the Bears too were unable to move her around.
 
The Bears put the first runner in scoring position in the third, pairing a Kennedy Fisher single with a Kylie Griffin single to move Fisher to second. But with two outs, Central Arkansas couldn't get anything out of it. Queens put a runner on third in the fourth inning, producing the first real threat of the game with a runner 60 feet from scoring. But similar to the Bears in the previous inning, two outs made it hard to move the runner, and a big fly-out to left ended the inning.
 
Both sides battled through the late innings of regulation, recording at least one runner on base in each half of the final two innings. But defense and pitching ruled, and the vice grip of a scoreless game continued through the bottom of the seventh.
 
Queens put back-to-back singles on the ground with one out in the top of the eighth, putting a quick threat in scoring position. With two outs, a wild pitch allowed both runners to advance, leaving the Royals with a runner 60 feet from scoring in what was, to that point, the biggest moment of the game. But after battling to a 2-2 count, Petty induced a pop-up to Hood, sending the Bears back to the plate with a chance to walk it off.
 
At the top of the lineup for the eighth, Renee Christian opened the frame with a single that found its way into the outfield. Griffin fought to a full count walk, and Tremere Harris watched four balls go by to load the bases. Hood, battling to a 2-1 count, smacked one over the second baseman's head to score the game-winning run. Hood's hit was the first walk-off, game-winner since the Bears walked off Saint Francis in the eighth inning back in March.
 
It marked the first time since joining the ASUN that the Bears won their opening game of the ASUN Championship, setting Central Arkansas on the winner's bracket. This means that Central Arkansas will face North Florida on Thursday at a newly adjusted 12 p.m.