The softball team is now 6-3 in the Southland and 12-14 overall, following a series with Central Arkansas over the weekend where they kept things close but still lost two and won one game.
The first game ended in a 4-1 loss for the Wildcats. Senior Demi McNulty was able to score the team’s only run on a single by sophomore Peyton Hedrick in the third inning. Redshirt sophomore Hannah Null recorded the loss after pitching a complete game with six strikeouts, one walk, and giving up all four earned runs.
ACU came away with the win in the second game. UCA managed to score two runs by the third inning, but Wildcat sophomores Holly Neese and Brianna Barnhill scored in the seventh to tie up the game. They finally took the lead in the eighth inning when Neese singled up the middle and Hedrick scored, ending the game at 3-2.
Freshman Allison Turner got the win, pitching 8.0-innings of work including six strikeouts, two runs and seven hits.
The final game lasted 12 innings and took over three hours to complete. The Wildcats fought hard but came up with the loss in the tight 11-10 game. The team combined 15 hits, eight RBI, and left 13 on base.
Central Arkansas got off to a quick lead by scoring two runs in the first inning, before Hedrick scored in the third and sophomore Baylee Travers smashed a two-run homer in the fourth, giving the Wildcats their first lead of the night. From there, the teams battled back and forth each inning – including an RBI double by Barnhill – until they ended the seventh tied 4-4, forcing the game to go into extra innings.
Freshman Miranda Herron, junior Taylor Brown, and Barnhill each recorded an RBI single in the 10th and 11th innings. ACU took the lead one final time in the 12th when senior Cara Hoover singled to left field and Herron was able to score.
However, Central Arkansas came back to score two more runs in the bottom of the 12th, snatching the win.
The Wildcats will take a break from Southland Conference play to take on Texas Tech Wednesday in Abilene at 6 p.m., before heading to Louisiana to play first-place McNeese State University in a three-game series Friday and Saturday.
