The first midweek action of the season for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff softball team ended in a doubleheader split against a Division II opponent.
UAPB lost 5-4, then won 14-6 in five innings against Lincoln (Mo.) on Tuesday at the Torii Hunter Softball Complex.
Lincoln (8-5) led 5-0 midway through the fourth inning of the first game. After scoring an unearned run in the third, right fielder Josie Bezzole and left fielder Ann-Marie Simpson each hit a 2-RBI single in the fourth.
Lady Lion starting pitcher Danika Bryant (0-2) gave up each of the runs in a three-inning start. She allowed five hits and three walks with five strikeouts before Karis Stewart took over. Stewart pitched the remaining four innings, holding Lincoln to no runs on two hits with a strikeout.
UAPB (4-12) tried to rally in the bottom of the fourth. Third baseman Janai Mathis hit a 2-RBI double, and right fielder Ariana Gonzalez added an RBI single. Gonzalez drove in another run in the bottom of the sixth, but Lincoln reliever Maddie Sechrest pitched a scoreless seventh to earn her second save of the season.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Starting pitcher Abby Pulliam (3-1) gave up three runs on six hits in 3 1/3 innings, while middle reliever Mallorey Rogers allowed one run on one hit in 2 2/3 innings.
Game two was tied at 6 until Mathis and designated player Alyssa Jones hit RBI singles in the bottom of the fourth. The Lady Lions put the game away with a six-run bottom of the fifth inning, which included RBI hits by center fielder Chasney Cooper and catcher Angelina Rivas and a 2-RBI single by third baseman Rheagan Montgomery.
Mathis scored the run-rule walk-off run on a wild pitch. She hit 2 for 2 with two walks, two RBI and two runs in the second game, but Cooper and Montgomery led with three RBI apiece. Cooper scored three times.
UAPB pitcher Kamea Seunarine (1-2) went the distance, allowing five earned runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and three walks.
Lincoln used four pitchers, with starter Jaedin Blankenship allowing six runs, four of them earned, in 1 2/3 innings.