Bears staying hot, finish series sweep
CONWAY — Everything is clicking at the right time for the University of Central Arkansas softball team.
The Bears defeated Stetson 9-7 on Saturday afternoon at Farris Field to sweep the series and pick up their fifth win in a row.
“I’m happy with the energy, how we’re playing right now,” UCA Coach Jenny Parsons said. “We’re playing really solid softball. We look like a different team than in February.”
With a roster full of new faces and a daunting nonconference schedule that Parsons admits may have resulted in the slow start, it took a while for many Bears (13-21, 5-4 ASUN) to find their footing.
After getting swept by Eastern Kentucky, the ASUN leader, to open conference play, Parsons and her staff wanted to change the approach from their hitters.
Since then, UCA is 5-1 with two series wins and has moved into fifth in the ASUN standings.
This weekend against Stetson (12-23, 3-6), those changes showed up and down the lineup as UCA totaled 29 hits from 10 players, 9 walks and 23 runs.
The Bears struck first Saturday when they sent all nine batters to the plate in the first inning. Gracie St. Hilaire and Colleen Bare each sent balls to the outfield to drive in two runs a piece, giving UCA a 4-0 lead.
Starting pitcher Bailie Runner got into trouble in the first inning as Stetson loaded the bases, but she got out of the jam with a strikeout. In the second inning, the Hatters matched the Bears’ four runs before Parsons pulled Runner.
While UCA’s offense was the highlight of the weekend, its pitching has held opponents to four runs or less in the five previous games entering Saturday.
Julia Petty came in for Runner and held the Hatters scoreless for four of the final five innings, allowing three hits. Petty allowed three runs in the fifth inning due to poor control.
“The pitching has kept us in ballgames,” Parsons said. “And that’s all we’re asking is like, ‘Hey, make them beat you. Let’s not beat ourselves on the mound.’ ”
UCA answered with three runs in the bottom of the second inning, thanks to an RBI hit from Nelson, a Stetson throwing error and a delayed steal of home by Tallulah Pascucci.
Last season’s UCA team wasn’t filled with power bats, but it did have multiple threats to go deep, like Madi Young, Mary Kate Brown and Nelson.
Other than one home run by catcher Kennedy Fisher, Nelson has hit the other four homers for the Bears this season. So UCA showed off what it does have offensively Saturday, which is speed at nearly every spot.
“We put ourselves in position to score those four runs and those three runs in the first two innings today, strictly on our baserunning,” Parsons said. “Honestly, that’s been our M.O. for the last two years, and we just finally kind of got back to it. The top of the lineup had been producing, getting on base, and we haven’t had the 4-5-6 or the 5-6-7-8-9 [to drive them in]. So we really weren’t able to run a whole lot. And then finally we just said, let’s just take the brakes off and let’s go. The last two weekends, we’ve really gotten after it running.”
The Bears stole five bases Saturday and frequently found themselves on second base after singles thanks to aggressive baserunning.
In the fourth inning, UCA added to its lead when Nelson hit a double off the center field wall and Tremere Harris and Lilly Hood scored to make it 9-4.
Harris and Kylie Griffin, UCA’s two returning All-ASUN selections, have carried the offense for much of the season. With freshman Renee Christian hitting between them — and Nelson and Hood in sync behind them — the Bears have a formidable top five hitters now.
“Lilly Hood, Morgan Nelson both have really stepped up and started hitting really well in that four and five spot,” Parsons said. “They just, they feed off each other. … I think we’re finding our groove, we’re finding our right set of people to get it done.”