The UCA softball team won three home games against Southeastern Louisiana University last weekend.
The Bears came off a four game losing streak and won the first game of the doubleheader Saturday 15-7.
UCA scored one run in the bottom of the first inning, then SLU scored seven runs.
Down 7-1, the Bears scored 14 unanswered runs.
The Bears scored three runs in the bottom of the second, 10 runs in the bottom of the third and one run in the bottom of the sixth.
Sophomore second baseman Sarah Bigej, freshman right fielder Briana Whisenhunt, sophomore catcher Jessie Taylor, senior designated hitter Taylor Dear and sophomore center fielder Amy Gunnels all scored two runs in the game.
Dear said the Bears were able to come back from the early deficit.
Freshman left fielder Hannah Stirton and Taylor had four RBIs.
Sophomore pitcher Peyton Jenkins pitched four innings, threw 63 pitches, faced 16 batters, had three strikeouts and did all this without giving up a run.
UCA scored 15 runs off of 11 hits while the Lady Lions scored seven runs of of six hits. They also only had two errors while SLU had no errors.
UCA had five home runs.
Both teams got walked four times.
“Timely hitting and great relief pitching were how we came back from the 7-1 deficit in the beginning of the game,” she said.
The Bears won the second game of the doubleheader 3-0.
The second game was completely different from the first game.
Neither team scored a run until the fifth inning.
UCA scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth.
Stirton scored off of a sacrifice fly by Whisenhunt.
Taylor and Bigej scored after Taylor hit a home run to left field.
Junior pitcher Kylee Studioso threw 117 pitches and struck out 15 of 25 batters. She only gave up two hits, but didn’t give up a run.
The 15 strikeouts are the second most a UCA pitcher has ever recorded against an SLC opponent.
The Bears got walked four times and only gave up one walk.
Neither team had an error in the game.
The third game played was Sunday and all runs were scored in the first two innings.
The Bears won the game 5-0.
Sophomore third baseman Sam Forrest and Bigej scored two runs. Whisenhunt added another run.
Taylor also had 11 out of the Bears’ 21 putouts.
UCA had one error while the Lady Lions had no errors.
SLU had two hits but wasunable to score a run while the Bears scored five runs off nine hits.
Freshman pinch hitter Bailey Reynolds talked about some keys to the game.
“We had great starting pitching and our defense was behind her,” she said. “We got runners on and scored when we needed to. We all pulled together for the win.”
Studioso had another solid game with 11 strikeouts and no runs allowed.
She did this facing 25 batters and threw 92 pitches.
UCA is on the road this weekend against the McNeese State University Cowgirls in Lake Charles, La. MSU is 6-1 coming into the series. The teams went 1-1 in the regular season, but the Bears beat the Cowgirls in the Southland Conference Tournament.
