CONWAY, Ark. – The Central Arkansas softball team picked up a pair of wins over North Alabama to take the home series Saturday afternoon in front of a plethora of UCA alumnae. The Bears won a couple of nail biters to claim the series without the need of a rubber match, winning both games by a single run.
 
Game One: Central Arkansas – 2, North Alabama – 1
After a quick first inning that saw both orders send three up and return three, North Alabama did the same in the second. But the Bears, sending the 4-5-6 batters to the plate, wasted no time getting some offense started. Emma Robertson watched four pitches go by to start the second, opening a 2-2 count, before seeing one she did like, and sent it to the stratosphere for her team-best 11^th homer. A few batters later, now with two outs, Lilly Hood didn't even need to see a pitch before locating and detonating, smashing her third bomb of the season to give the Bears a 2-0 advantage.
 
North Alabama continued to struggle to put runners on base, as Bailie Runner and the defense were locked in from the word go. The Bears' ace and the ASUN's best fielding defense kept North Alabama searching for answers all game, giving up just five hits across the first seven innings. The Lions finally scratched one run across in the sixth on a sacrifice fly, but Runner was able to limit the damage to earn her 13^th win of the season.
 
Game Two: Central Arkansas – 6, North Alabama – 5
After honoring the alum in attendance between games, the Bears got set for the second half of the double header. North Alabama took the time between games to reload and lock back in, and for a while, it paid off. The Lions started the game with a triple, and a single two batters later put the Lions briefly on top, 1-0.
 
But the Lions' lead lasted until the… second inning. Lilly Hood dropped down a bunt to start the inning, reaching safely before a throwing error allowed her to scoot over to second. Gracie St. Hilaire put down another bunt, intending to sacrifice herself to move Hood to third, but another error allowed St. Hilaire to reach safely, putting runners on the corners. St. Hilaire stole second, and Grace Molitor walked, loading the bases with no outs. Two batters later, Addie Graham scored a pair of runs with a slice to center, putting the Bears on top. After the runners moved to scoring position on a groundout, Emma Robertson came through with a massive single past the third baseman, scoring two more runs for a four-run inning.
 
The Lions scored one more in the third inning before a couple of scoreless innings had the game at 4-2 entering the fifth. Robertson came back to the plate to lead off the fifth and again, watched a few pitches go by before finding hers, hitting her second homer of the day to give Central Arkansas a 5-2 lead. But the Lions weren't going quietly. The sixth inning saw the visitors score three runs, tying the game, using a homer to start the scoring and small ball to equalize the score with precious few outs remaining.
 
Fortunately for the Bears, the top of the order was coming around to start the seventh. And with three-straight batters hitting nearly .400, that was always going to be a tall task for any defense. Renee Christian walked to start the frame, and stole second. Trinity Brandon advanced her baserunner to third, and Robertson came through again, finding her third hit of the day to score Christian from third to give the home team the final lead. Lucy Crowder started in the circle and had North Alabama guessing at the plate, before Emory Bowlin came in to seal the deal, and the freshman picked up her seventh win of the year.
 
Central Arkansas moved past 30 wins this season, doing so for the first time since 2023. The series win also pushes the Bears past North Alabama for first place in the ASUN Gold Division, which now relies on winning percentage after a rainout earlier in the year leaving teams with uneven number of games played.
 
The Bears and Lions have one more game on the docket tomorrow, playing the third and final game of the series at 1 p.m.