Softball Defeats Central Arkansas, 6-5

Saturday, February 22

Conway, Ark.

3:45 p.m.

Drexel University

2-5

Central Arkansas

4-9

Central Arkansas

Drexel

2/22/2014 8:22:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

CONWAY, Ark. - The Drexel softball team held on to a 6-5 lead to defeat Central Arkansas on Saturday. Shelby Taylor pitched a complete game and threw nine strikeouts, while Leticia Matsuoka went 3-3 with three RBIs.

Central Arkansas scored first in the top of the second after hitting a triple followed by a single to drive in the run. Drexel evened up the score in the bottom of the third when Vanessa Lightfoot reached on a fielding error and then advanced to second on a ground out. Matsuoka then brought Lightfoot home on a single to right field.

The Dragons held the Bears scoreless in the top of the fourth, and then came out swinging in the bottom of the inning. Taylor walked to start off the inning and then was moved over to third base as Karli Boyer doubled to center field. Ellen Scott hit a single up the middle to drive in Taylor and advance Boyer to third. Liana Newton later reached base on a throwing error by the Central Arkansas short stop that allowed both Boyer and Scott to score, increasing the Drexel lead to 4-1. Later in the inning, Matsuoka doubled down the line to earn two more RBIs and make it a 6-1 Dragons lead.

The Bears retaliated in the top of the fifth, as lead off batter Hannah Stirton doubled to left center and then advanced to third on a single from Sarah Bigej. Central Arkansas scored one run in the inning as a two-out ground out drove in Stirton, but the Dragons were able to come up with a ground out to end the inning and limit the damage to one run.

Central Arkansas tried to stage another comeback in the top of the sixth, scoring three runs in the inning, but Taylor earned her eighth strike out of the night to leave two runners on and hold onto a one-run lead going into the bottom of the sixth.

Although the Dragons were not able to add any extra padding to their lead in the sixth, Drexel was able to shut the Bears down in the top of the seventh to earn their second victory of the season.

Drexel returns to action on Sunday, when they will face Western Illinois starting at 9:00 a.m.