FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Nobody is taking anything for granted.
Big innings in the fifth and sixth put enough runs on the board for Arkansas that a little noise from Texas in the last inning didn’t mean much in a 7-1 win Thursday night at Bogle Park in the opening game of the Fayetteville Super Regional.
Now the Razorbacks are one win away from reaching another program milestone by making the finals.
“It’s nice to be 1-0 going into tomorrow,” Hogs coach Courtney Deifel said later, “but I don’t think we’re getting bigger than that. I mean we’ve been in a position before in the SEC where we’ve lost the first one and won the next two.
“We know what’s at stake for tomorrow and we’re just gonna focus on getting one more.”
Apparently that’s the same focus of the players.
“It’s just another game,” third baseman Hannah Gammill said after the game.
Getting that first win was a little slow. The Hogs finally broke it open in the fifth, sending nine hitters to the plate.
Hannah McEwen led off the inning with a double off the fence in center field. Taylor Ellsworth sac bunted McEwen to third. Danielle Gibson then was walked.
Gammill then singled to left field to plate McEwen for a 1-0 lead. Linnie Malkin singled to load the bases. Then Kacie Hoffmann hit a grounder to first baseman who threw it away at home. Both Gibson and Gammill scored.
Deifel didn’t sound like she had gotten too concerned with it taking so long to get the offense going.
“Our at-bats tonight got progressively kept getting better,” said said. “It’s really just a matter of time. You’re seeing a lot of pitches, you’re sharing that information, and you just saw our offense have better at-bats each time someone dug in.”
Arkansas added to the lead in the bottom of the sixth. McEwen led off with an infield single. Ellsworth singled to center field. Gibson then hit a flyout to center, but McEwen went to third after the tag
Gammill then singled to right field to get McEwen across the plate with one out. Malkin then singled to left to get Ellsworth home. The Hogs went on to add two more runs as well.
