{"id":20154,"date":"2025-02-14T08:54:56","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T14:54:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/?p=20154"},"modified":"2025-02-14T17:11:58","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T23:11:58","slug":"harding-softball-kicks-off-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/2025\/02\/14\/harding-softball-kicks-off-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Harding Softball kicks off season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Written By Nic Fraraccio\/\/Photo by Jeff Montgomery<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lady Bisons kicked off their season two weeks ago with five straight wins at the Mardi Gras Invitational in Lafayette, Louisiana. Harding produced a historic weekend in the Bayou State, which included two ranked wins against No. 7 Augustana College and No. 12 Mississippi College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lady Bisons also picked up victories against the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Miles College and Texas A&M University-Kingsville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2-1 victory against No. 7 Augustana College was Harding\u2019s first victory against a top-10 opponent since 2023. Senior outfielder Macy Ham walked off the Vikings with her RBI double in the 8th inning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ham said she was seeing the ball well going into the at-bat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe pitcher was really good, but I was able to burn the centerfielder,\u201d Ham said. \u201cThat is probably the furthest ball I have ever hit \u2014 it felt great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior infielder Emma Curry, who kickstarted the weekend with a grand slam against the University of Alabama in Huntsville, said the team has shown \u201cdevotion to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone has fully bought in so far this season,\u201d Curry said. \u201cIt is humbling to see \u2014 it makes me feel better as a player knowing we have the same goal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the circle, the Harding pitching staff controlled the pace of the games. Senior Riley Price, redshirt freshman Brooklyn Gobble and freshman Avery Booker combined for a .90 ERA. Furthermore, Booker produced a no-hitter in a 20-0 victory over Miles College. It was the fifth no-hitter in program history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Junior infielder Zoey Neal said the pitchers have settled several games for the Lady Bisons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think all of our pitching staff can go in at any time and shut the game down,\u201d Neal said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last weekend, the Lady Bisons entered tournament action yet again \u2014 this time in Bentonville, Arkansas, at the Alvy Early\/UAM Softball Classic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harding won four of its five matchups to improve to 9-1 on the season. The victories came against Newman University, University of Missouri-St. Louis, University of Central Missouri and Upper Iowa University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During another successful weekend, the Lady Bisons found themselves in the history books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team broke a school record for hits in a single game during their 18-1 victory against the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The 20-hit performance was fueled by a pinch-hit grand slam in the second inning by freshman utility player Emaline Pearson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neal also tacked on two hits, including a three-run home run in the fourth inning. Neal said any player can make an impact for the Lady Bisons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll of us were good offensively,\u201d Neal said. \u201cAnyone can come in and hit for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hot start has boosted the confidence of the players and coaches for the Harding softball team. Ham said the beginning of the season has been a \u201cconfirmation\u201d of the teams\u2019 talents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the best team I have ever been on,\u201d Ham said. \u201cEverything has just felt very under control.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lady Bisons will continue their season today at the NCAA Division II Battle in Branson, Missouri, against Maryville University and McKendree University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written By Nic Fraraccio\/\/Photo by Jeff Montgomery The Lady Bisons kicked off their season two weeks ago with five straight wins at the Mardi Gras Invitational in Lafayette, Louisiana. Harding…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15086,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}