LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Central Arkansas softball team claimed another ASUN series Saturday afternoon, winning both halves of a doubleheader at Bellarmine. The Bears had a little bit of everything on the basepaths, including a whopping 22 walks across the first two games of the series.
 
The Bears improved to 27-16 overall and 9-4 in ASUN games, with both Bailie Runner and Lucy Crowder picking up wins in the circle. Both pitchers gave up just one earned run, and Crowder struck out a season-high five batters. The 17 walks drawn in game two of the day matched a program record, tying an effort back in 2000 against Williams Baptist.
 
Game One: Central Arkansas – 8, Bellarmine – 1
The first game started rather slowly, with both sides stranding baserunners in the early innings. The Bears opened the game with three walks in the first inning, loading the bases, but were unable to get any scoring out of the opportunity.
 
It would take until the fourth inning for either side to score, and Central Arkansas was the first to take advantage of some offense. Lilly Hood hit a single to left field to establish a baserunner, and Grace Molitor moved her to third with a hit of her own. After Molitor stole second, a groundout allowed Hood to cross home plate, marking the first score of the afternoon. Bellarmine matched it quickly in the home half of the inning, leaving the game basically where it started.
 
Addie Graham didn't wait long to amend that, demolishing the first pitch of the fifth to give the Bears the lead again, hitting her third homer of the season. After a clean bottom half of the inning, the Bear offense was finally ready to go to work. LJ Smith started the sixth off with a triple, and scored two batters later. Autumn Vessier walked and moved to second on a wild pitch, but the extra base was made unnecessary by Renee Christian's triple down the right field line. Graham scored Christian on a flare through the left side of the infield, and Trinity Brandon hit a single that got Graham to third, which also allowed Brandon to scoot on over to second. Emma Robertson put the game out of reach on the next plate appearance, launching a three-run homer to put the Bears up seven.
 
Game Two: Central Arkansas – 13, Bellarmine – 3
The Bears didn't wait long to score in game two, getting Addie Graham aboard with a walk, and a Trinity Brandon hit to center got a run on the board for the Bears. But Central Arkansas wasn't done scoring, even though that would be the only hit of the inning. Showing incredible patience at the plate, five of the next six Bears would draw a walk, four of them on 3-1 counts. The result: three more runs scoring before the first inning ended, giving the Bears a 4-0 lead with only one hit.
 
Bellarmine cut the lead in half with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, but it would be a battle of attrition for the Knights lineup, who largely couldn't control if the pitching would help them out. A couple more walks to start the second continued the trend, and LJ Smith came through with an RBI hit to score two more runs, boosting the lead to 6-2.
 
Crowder kept the Knights quiet in the bottom of the second, striking out the side with a masterclass of an inning, mixing up her looks, spots and speeds to get two swinging and one looking, sending her team back to the plate in a hurry. After scoring again in the third, Central Arkansas took a commanding 7-2 lead on an RBI hit from Brandon. Bellarmine added a run in the third to keep it a four-run deficit, but Crowder and the defense fought through a bases loaded situation to keep the Knights from doing much harm.
 
For the second game in a row, Smith opened an inning with a triple, this time the fourth inning of game two. Lilly Hood followed that up with a walk, stole second, and a wild pitch moved both runners 60 feet, scoring Smith. Grace Molitor hit a sacrifice fly to score Hood, and after a pitching change, two walks and a single loaded the bases. A wild pitch scored a pinch-running Sydney Kildow, Emma Robertson walked the bases back loaded, and Kaitlyn Graham took ball four to add to the lead, boosting the score to 11-3.
 
Central Arkansas added two more runs in the fifth, with Christian hitting a triple to send Vessier home, and an error allowing Christian to cross home as well.
 
The Bears have one more game this weekend, going for the sweep over Bellarmine tomorrow at 11 a.m. CT.