Taylor Jones

Day One Split at the FAU Invitational

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The University of Arkansas softball team played to a split of its game Friday at the FAU Invitational, posting a 5-0 win over Florida A&M in its opener before suffering its first loss of the season in a 3-1 setback to host Florida Atlantic. Stephanie Canfield tied her career high with four hits against FAMU, and now sits one shy of joining the program’s 200-hit club. The Razorbacks move to 8-1 on the season with the day’s split.

Game 1: Arkansas 5, Florida A&M 0 | Box Score | Photo Gallery

For the fourth time this season, the Razorbacks’ offense generated double-digit hits with four coming off the bat of Canfield who tied her career high in the performance. Arkansas led 2-0 when Canfield doubled to center field to plate pinch runner Betina Beringhele in the fourth inning. A.J. Belans and Madison Yannetti capped the scoring with RBIs in the fifth with a hit up the middle and groundout, respectively.

Grace Moll walked the first two hitters of the game before settling in against Florida A&M’s lineup to retire 11 of the next 12 hitters she faced. The senior pitcher matched her season high with nine strikeouts and allowed just three hits in the fifth complete-game shutout of her career. Moll also benefitted from eight groundouts to go along with her strikeout total. Behind the plate, Hiers threw out two base runners including the Rattlers’ lead-off hitter trying to swipe third in the first inning.

Game 2: Florida Atlantic 3, Arkansas 1 | Box Score

Leading off the second inning, Tori Cooper put the Razorbacks on top with a solo shot to right center, her fourth home run of the season. The lead stood strong through the first three innings as freshman Autumn Storms retired the first nine hitters she faced with the help of six strikeouts. Over the next two innings, however, Florida Atlantic (10-2) took advantage of two errors—one in each frame—to score three unearned runs.

Looking to start a rally, Cooper led off the seventh with a single up the middle for her second multi-hit game of the season. A two-out walk to Yannetti gave Arkansas runners on first and second but a pop out down the line toward third base ended the game. Going head-to-head with FAU ace Kylee Hanson, Storms registered a season-high eight strikeouts and scattered five hits over six innings of work in the tough-luck loss.

Up Next
The Razorbacks return to the field Saturday morning to face UConn for the first time in program history at 10:15 a.m. (CT) followed by a game against Memphis at 12:30 p.m. Arkansas will close out its weekend with a second meeting with Florida A&M on Sunday at 8 a.m. The team makes its home debut March 3-5 when it hosts the Wooo Pig Classic at Bogle Park.

For more information about Arkansas softball, follow @RazorbackSB on Twitter.