Razorbacks sweep to open fall season
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas softball team defeated Lake Land College in a pair of game Saturday at Bogle Park to open its fall season of competition. Courtney Breault and Miranda Dixon each had two hits and an RBI in the opener to lead the Razorbacks to a 5-1 victory. In the finale, Arkansas capitalized on two Laker miscues to come away with a 3-0 win."I was very impressed with our defense today," head coach Mike Larabee said. "We didn’t have any physical errors on defense but we did have one mental error, but all in all, I was very pleased. We still have a long ways to go, hitting wise, and we need to do a better job of staying inside the pitch. We had some timely hits and we were very aggressive."Early in game one, neither team could put a dent in the scoreboard until the Razorbacks’ half of the fourth inning when pinch runner Becca Carden scored on an RBI single from Breault. Arkansas was held without a hit through the first three innings by Lake Land starter Aubrey Frank before Dixon singled with two outs in the bottom of the fourth; Carden came on to pinch run for Dixon.In the circle for the Razorbacks, Dixon threw four shutout innings while striking out five before giving way to relievers Hope McLemore and Layne McGuirt. Collectively, the Arkansas staff gave up just two hits.The Razorbacks opened their lead in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Brittany Robison singled to center field which was followed by a Jessica Bachkora single. On the play, the Lake Land right fielder overthrew her teammates allowing Robison to score on the error. Tori Mort followed by reaching on a fielder’s choice but reached third when Bachkora preoccupied the defense in a rundown before eventually scoring the third run of the game.Sandra Smith singled to center field to plate Mort and Dixon picked up an RBI double to bring McGuirt home who was pinch running for Smith. When the inning was over, the Razorbacks held the 5-0 advantage. Lake Land scored a late run, in the top of the seventh, to give the game its final score.Kim Jones started game two and worked five innings of shutout ball, allowing just one hit. Chelsea Cohen came in for two innings of relief work to earn the save and secure Arkansas’ three-run victory.The game’s first two runs crossed the plate in the bottom of the third when Robison singled to center field to plate Mort who was in pinch running for Jessica Waddle who led off the inning with a single. On the single by Robison, the Lake Land center fielder over ran the ball which rolled all the way to the wall and Robison raced around the bases to give Arkansas the 2-0 lead.The Razorbacks tacked on a third run in the bottom of the fourth when Breault scored from second on a wild pitch by Lake Land starter Mallory Bremer. The ball reached the backstop and rolled around before being picked up. Breault slid in safely just under Bremer’s tag.The games against Lake Land, though exhibition, were the first competitions for the Razorbacks under the direction of Larabee. Arkansas returns to the field Sept. 26 for its second doubleheader of the fall, a meeting with regional roe Tulsa at Bogle Park. Game one of the twin bills is set for a 1 p.m. start. For more information, log on to ArkansasRazorbacks.com.
Download: ark vs llc_fall2.pdf
