Massive Bomb Gives Arkansas Second Shot at Ducks

Razorbacks look to force two games Sunday afternoon for chance to face Stillwater Regional winner

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
May 21, 2023 12:59 AM EDT

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Swings like that are generally reserved for Major League Baseball.

You know the swing. A hitter cranks back and lays into the ball with so much power and ferocity that there's no need to even see the camera shot of the ball leaving the yard. What you heard told you all you needed to know. And while it's rare in college baseball to see a hit so powerful, it's even more rare in college softball.

However, Saturday night in the top of the seventh, Rylin Hedgecock, who has been a one woman army assaulting the Arkansas record books from the plate all season, put the game away with a blast so mammoth that it immediately put a stake in the heart of whatever hope Notre Dame may have held. It cleared the tent in left and was inches away from clearing the outer fence, barely keeping it from exiting into the parking lot.

Until that swing cemented a 5-0 win to advance the Razorbacks to the finals of the Fayetteville regional, senior All-SEC pitcher Chenise Delce was locked in a pitcher's duel with freshman upstart Micaela Kastor.

A line drive to center in the second drove home Lauren Camenzind to put Arkansas up 2-0, but from there the faucet shut off for the Razorbacks. Kastor gave up a single hit the next four innings and went three up, three down in all but one. At one point she threw four pitches and got three outs. In the sixth, when Arkansas needed a few runs to generate a little breathing room, Kastor got out of the inning on seven pitches.

Meanwhile, Delce was cruising along for the most part until the sixth. It was at that point that Joley Mitchell, a Rose Bud product who was the 2019 Arkansas Gatorade Player of the Year and the 2018 MaxPreps National Junior of the Year, figured out the scouting report on Delce, moving up in the box to get in front of nasty drop balls for a single up the middle. It ensured her season would end with 35 straight games having reached base.

Mitchell took second on a wild pitch prior to Delce walking Karlli Closs to bring the potential go-ahead run to the plate in the form of the Irish's most dangerous hitter, Karina Gaskins. With no outs and the game on the line, the pressure was on and Delce was going to need a borderline miracle to get out of the situation without giving up at least part of that 2-0 lead.

Fortunately for her, Gammill was feeling a bit spiritual over at third. Delce got Haskins to ground to third. Gammill stepped on the bag and threw across the diamond to first for the very rare softball double play. Now backed by two outs with a lone runner at second, Delce relaxed and forcedLexi Orosco to fly out at the warning track to end Notre Dame's last legitimate threat.

Arkansas now hopes to force a pair of games out of Oregon in the regional final. The two met in the same game last season with the Razorbacks coming out of the winner's bracket to send the Ducks back to the West Coast in a single game with a 9-3 win. Coach Courtney Deifel and her team will look to prevent Oregon from exacting revenge beginning at 1 p.m. on ESPN+. Should the Razorbacks win, the second game will take place at approximately 3:30 p.m. on ESPN+ also.