JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The No. 1 seeded Central Arkansas softball team bowed out as ASUN Championship runners-up, dropping a 4-0 final score against the No. 2 seed Stetson Hatters Saturday morning. The Bears end their tournament run having reached championship Saturday for the second time in program history.
Central Arkansas finishes the ASUN Championship with a 36-20-1 record after going 2-2 in the tournament. The Bears exit the Atlantic Sun Conference having been a top-three seed in all five tournament appearances and multiple wins in four of the five showings.
Neither offense looked sharp in the early innings, with both sides putting just a single runner on in the first two innings. The Bears almost had a chance in the third, when
Gracie St. Hilaire doubled to start the frame, but the lineup behind her could only move her to third before the end of the inning. Stetson tallied the first run of the day in the home half of the frame, combining four plate appearances that put a runner on and moved her around to score.
A home run in the next inning put the Bears back 3-0, but Central Arkansas continued to fight.
LJ Smith opened the fifth with a single, and St. Hilaire put her in scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. But just like the rest of the game, consecutive, productive at bats were difficult to come by for the Bears. Central Arkansas put runners on in each of the sixth and seventh, but were unable to come up with anything to take any momentum.
As runners-up, the Bears received three ASUN All-Tournament Team members:
Grace Molitor,
Trinity Brandon and
Lucy Crowder. Molitor hit .500 across the four games to lead the Bears, Brandon drove in four runs, including a three-RBI hit against Jacksonville, while converting all 19 defensive chances, and Crowder posted a 1.00 ERA, helping the Bears reach the Finals.
