(During the week of July 17th, Extra Inning Softball is announcing superlative awards for the 2023 college softball season.)
The 2023 season was like no other that the Central Arkansas softball program has seen.
In their second year in the ASun, the Bears first made their mark in non-conference play, picking up wins over Utah and South Dakota State in the early part of the year.
Continuing their annual home-and-home series against Arkansas, UCA went into Fayetteville and won for the first time, then repeated the victorious effort at their home in Conway.
A top-20 RPI and top-25 poll rankings followed that success, buoyed in large part by impressive performances from the UCA pitching staff. Kayla Beaver and Jordan Johnson combined for a 1.50 staff ERA, held opponents to a .201 batting average, and allowed just 98 runs through the course of the entire year.
During the regular season and postseason, the Bears’ bullpen notched eighteen shutout wins and allowed just one run in an additional fifteen games.
The Bears won the ASun regular-season and tournament championships and earned the regional 2-seed in Tuscaloosa in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
For her efforts in shepherding and guiding the Central Arkansas program to new heights, Jenny Parsons is the 2023 Mid-Major Coach of the Year.
