CONWAY, Ark. -- The Lamar University softball program fell in both game two and game three of the series to Central Arkansas on Saturday afternoon at Farris Field. The losses mark the end of the season for the Cardinals who finish at 8-43 overall and 4-23 in Southland play.
 
"Not our weekend," said head coach Amy Hooks. "We didn't play well, and we had a lot of emotions going into the weekend. We must be able to keep those emotions in check. UCA is a great team and when you make errors they will capitalize."

GAME 2 (Resumed after being suspended on Friday) – Central Arkansas 12, Lamar 1 (5 Inn.)

After Friday night's game was game suspended with no outs in the bottom of the third, the contest was resumed on Saturday afternoon with the Sugar Bears in the lead, 8-1, over the Cards.

Central Arkansas got runners on in the bottom of the third, but the Cardinal defense was able to get out of the inning. The top of the fourth saw the Big Red go down in order before the Sugar Bears went onto tack on four runs on four hits in the bottom of the fourth to take a 12-1 lead.

The Cardinals looked to get some offense going as they got runners on base, but the Central Arkansas defense was there to make the necessary plays to get them out of the top of the fifth and the win in game two in five innings.
 
GAME 3 – Central Arkansas 11, Lamar 2 (6 Inn.)


Lamar was able to get on base early on a single from Aleka Xayaseng and a sacrifice bunt by Ramirez was able to get Xayaseng in scoring position. Xayaseng went onto move to third after tagging up after Carpenter flied out to center. The bottom of the first saw Central Arkansas get a runner on as well, but left the runner stranded at second. Ruiz went to work early getting a strikeout and forcing two fly outs.
 
The Cardinals got on base on just the second batter into the second as Hannah Kinkade was walked, and then a single by Audry Fleming gave LU runners at first and second. Freshman Reagan Jones was able to get the single to go through the right side that loaded the bases. The Sugar Bears were able to get the double play to keep things even in Conway going into the bottom of the second. Central Arkansas took a one run lead in the bottom of the inning after a throwing error by the Cardinals allowed the runner at third to score.
 
Lamar flied out to begin the third, but then Nicolette Ramirez doubled to left center to give the Cardinals a runner in scoring position. Carpenter singled on the next at-bat, advancing Ramirez to third, but the Sugar Bears got out of the first half of the third with a line out to third and a strikeout. Central Arkansas opened the bottom of the inning with a first pitch double to left center before the next batter was walked giving UCA runners at third and first. The Sugar Bears extended their lead to 4-0 on a three-run home run by Hill in the third.
 
The Cardinals responded in the fourth as they cut the Sugar Bear lead in half after a Fleming single gave the Cardinals runners at first and second then a groundout by Jones allowed Fleming and Ramirez to advance to second and third, respectively. Redshirt senior Victoria Garivey singled in the next at-bat to bring in Kinkade and advancing Fleming to third. Xayaseng then singled to right field to give the Cards their second run of the inning when Fleming was able to tag home. The Lamar defense buckled down in the bottom of the fourth as the Sugar Bears were forced to leave the bases loaded after flying out to end the inning.
 
The fifth inning saw Central Arkansas extend their lead starting with an RBI single by Nelson, then Blackburn bunted to the Cardinal pitcher and beating the throw allowing Harris to score. Brown batted next for UCA and got the bunt down and beat the throw to first to bring in Nelson allowing the Sugar Bears to take a 7-2 lead going into the sixth.
 
The Cardinals got a runner on in the sixth but grounded out to end the inning. Central Arkansas went onto hit back-to-back home runs to start the bottom of the sixth, before a triple to right center field allowed the winning runs to score, giving the Sugar Bears a 11-2 win in six innings in game three.
 
"I am so proud of our two seniors, Hannah and Tori," added head coach Amy Hooks. "Both of those guys showed up every day ready to make the team better. They didn't have the senior season they expected but they stayed the course and did it with a smile. This program will miss them both."