Razorbacks rout Bulldogs, win 5 of 6 games in tourney
COLLEGE SOFTBALL NO. 7 ARKANSAS 8, DRAKE 0, 5 INNINGS
FAYETTEVILLE — In its sixth and final game of the Razorback Invitational, the University of Arkansas softball team sealed a five-win weekend with an 8-0 shutout over Drake in front of an announced crowd of 2,555 fans on a chilly Sunday at Bogle Park.
No. 7 Arkansas (13-3) notched its fourth run-rule win of the season, powering by nine hits in 5 innings and a strong pitching performance from Chenise Delce.
Delce (6-1) worked the circle for her fourth game of the invitational, allowing no runs while capturing six strikeouts. Delce added to her total of 48 strikeouts for the early season.
“I thought she was great for us this weekend,” said Arkansas Coach Courtney Deifel of Delce. “I thought today she just had a very veteran outing. Not even having her best stuff, but just fighting through it and kind of just letting it come back to her to set a really good tone. And you can see as she got better each inning, and I think that’s the maturity of just a seasoned competitor. She’s been really steady for us and just really electric in the circle, which is huge.”
It took Cylie Halvorson just one at-bat to blister a ball over the left field wall, delivering a two-run shot to bring in Hannah Gammill. It was the Sioux Falls, S.D., native’s third home run of the season.
A single from Kacie Hoffman placed just over the second baseman’s head kept the momentum going. With the bases loaded from a cluster of walks, Drake pitcher Mackenzie Hupke issued her fourth walk of the game and Hoffmann came home for a 3-0 lead. The Bulldogs made a pitching change and sent Paige Bedsworth to the circle. Bedsworth got Atalyia Rijo to ground out to end the inning.
In the third, Halvorson walked to lead off the inning, then Hoffman hit her third home run of the season, this one to right field, to give Arkansas a 5-0 lead.
The bats kept moving through the fifth, Bentonville native Tymber Riley singled to left field – her first hit in Bogle Park – and advanced to second on the throw. It scored Kristina Foreman and moved Rylee Cloud over to third base.
“Everyone was so hype,” Riley said regarding her hit. “It felt so good, it was a mixture of, like, we were excited that the game was coming to an end and then just everyone being excited for me just because they did know that was my first hit in Bogle.”
Feeding off the momentum, Reagan Johnson doubled up the middle, scoring both Riley and Cloud to end the game.
“I thought it was a pretty good weekend,” said Johnson, who went 3 of 4 at the plate. “As a team, overall I thought we definitely got better as it went on. I thought I had really good hits going throughout the weekend too as well.”
The cloudy home-opening weekend ended with Arkansas walking out of the Razorback Invitational winning five of its six games. Arkansas swept Drake and won 2 of 3 games against 13th-ranked Arizona.
“I thought we got better as we went through the weekend,” Deifel said. “I wasn’t super happy with how we competed early, so just kind of working through that in a short amount of time. … I thought we progressed through that nicely and hopefully it’s what we’re gonna build off going into next weekend.”
The Razorbacks return to Bogle Park this week for the annual Wooo Pig Classic, starting at 4 p.m. Thursday against Iowa State. The tournament will be streamed on SEC Network-Plus.