CONWAY, Ark. – It was a record-setting series opener against Austin Peay, as the Central Arkansas softball team had its highest-scoring game in program history, walking off a 16-15 game against the Govs.
 
Kaitlyn Graham had the final RBI single to claim the game, her single-game record tying fifth hit of the evening, and the 20^th hit of the night for the Bears. It marked the second time that the Bears had ever accumulated 20 hits, trailing only a 23-hit day against Arkansas Pine Bluff in 2010. The 31 combined runs also set a program record, eclipsing the record of 30 combined runs from March 9^th, 1996, just the program's seventh game of its inaugural season.
 
After sitting down the first three Govs, the offense came to the plate, and for the second-straight game, batted around the order in the first. Addie Graham got on base on a fielder's choice, making it two outs with one runner on. Mya January found a gap to move Graham to second, and Lilly Hood scored Graham for the first run of the game. Kaitlyn Graham pushed a single up the middle to score the second run, and just like that, the Bears were rolling. LJ Smith walked on four-straight pitches to load the bases, and the Govs changed pitchers. A passed ball scored Hood from third, and Emma Veach walked the bases back loaded. Autumn Vessier walked in a run, and the Govs changed pitchers and finally got out of the inning after allowing four.
 
Austin Peay answered, however, with seven runs in the top of the second, storming back to take a three-run lead. January crossed home on a Graham single in the home half to cut the lead to two, and Vessier scored on a Young double in the third to make the deficit one. The Bears tied the game on the next at bat in the fourth, a Graham single to score Young, making it 7-7.
 
The teams traded runs back and forth through the fourth and fifth innings, with the Bears seemingly playing catchup every inning. Central Arkansas scored five in the fifth, with two, two-RBI singles to even the score at 12-12, and a bases loaded walk by Young to take a 13-12 lead into the sixth.
 
But the Governors weren't going quietly, and a three-run sixth put the Bears in a tough spot, with only six outs remaining to score at least two runs. And despite loading the bases, Central Arkansas couldn't put any runners through, and headed to the seventh down two.
 
The defense held strong in the top of the seventh, sending the bats back to the plate at the top of the order to go for the win. Kylie Griffin singled and forced a pitching change. Young and Graham both walked on four pitches to force another change in the circle, and the bases were loaded with no outs. But the Governor defense forced two outs at home on back-to-back fielder's choices, and suddenly, still trailing by two, the optimism of bases loaded with no outs became a white-knuckle desperation, just needing to pass the bat down the order another time or two. A wild pitch resulted in a run, but left Central Arkansas still down one, with Kaitlyn Graham at the dish. Already 4-for-5, Graham had been seeing the ball well all night, regardless of who was pitching. And on a 1-0 count, the freshman gave the ball just a little punch over the shortstop's head, and it carried just far enough to drop in. January and Hood crossed home plate, and the Bear dugout emptied to mob the freshman hitter at first base.
 
The Bears scored in every inning but the sixth, and every starter in the lineup recorded multiple hits, with Graham hitting five and Hood putting up three. Central Arkansas's lineup hit .513 in game one, reaching the .500 mark for the fourth time this season. Six games into conference play, the 20 hits represent more than a third of the 59 hit by the Bears this season, and make Central Arkansas the 17^th team in Division I and the first ASUN team to tally 20 hits in a game this season.
 
Currently, the plan is to play one game at 1 p.m. on Saturday, game two of the series against Austin Peay. With weather in the forecast for the weekend, an adjustment may be made at a later time.