CONWAY, Ark. – After one of the most bizarre regular season finals in program history, the Central Arkansas softball team recorded its first tie in its 29 season, finishing a 1-1 game after several hours of rain delay against Bellarmine.
The tie brings the Bears to 24-25-1 on the season, with a final record of 15-7-1 in ASUN games. Central Arkansas celebrated the legacies of Tremere Harris and Morgan Nelson during pregame, honoring their contributions to the program’s success over their tenure in Purple and Gray. Paityn Engemann got the start in the circle for the Bears, her first-career start, and tossed four innings, being credited with the one earned run. She was in control for much of the game, allowing just four hits while striking out a batter.
The game barely got started before the first delay. At first, it was just a little rain, halting the game briefly with one out at the bottom of the first. After the rain stopped, but before play could resume, lightning halted the game for 80 minutes. Upon summary, Kylie Griffin walked and stole second, putting herself in scoring position with one out. Harris quickly sent home, blasting a double to left center to plate the first run of the game.
Bellarmine had a decent chance to answer in the top of the second, pairing a walk with a single to put a runner on second with just one out. Yet, the Central Arkansas defense held firm, battling for a fly out to left and a groundout to the shortstop to end the threat.
Both offenses struggled to do much through the meat and potatoes of the game, with two baserunners in the third inning by the Bears marking the most through next several innings. But as the fifth inning rolled around, events took a turn for the worse. The Knights strung together four-straight plate appearances that resulted in a runner moving 60 feet, culminating in a tying run scoring as the second out was being recorded. As the play was being reviewed, lightning struck again, halting the game.
Two hours later, the teams were back on the field, with just 40 minutes to complete the last 16 outs. And after cruising through the rest of the fifth and sixth innings, the seventh inning didn’t quite get done, leaving the game to be set back to the end of the sixth.
Central Arkansas now looks ahead to the ASUN Championship, where the Bears earned the No. 3 seed after this weekend’s slate. As the No. 3 seed, the Bears avoid the play-in games, and will face the winner of Jacksonville and Queens on May 8th.
