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Delce is dominant in series-opening win over Kentucky

The reigning SEC Pitcher of the Week may be on her way to being a repeat winner.

Chenise Delce was awarded the honor following three successful outings in the Auburn series where she did not allow a run while striking out 15 batters in 7.2 innings of work. She picked up where she left off by striking out nine batters while allowing one earned run on six hits in No. 6 Arkansas’ 2-1 series-opening win over No. 12 Kentucky on Friday afternoon at Bogle Park.

Delce limited the production of the Wildcats by facing just four batters in all but two innings on Friday. The junior’s lone run allowed came in the 3rd inning on a Rylea Smith single to tie the game at 1-1. Her strongest inning came in the 6th inning when she faced the minimum with two strikeouts.

Over the last six games, Delce has allowed just four earned runs while striking out 40 batters.

Arkansas (31-7, 10-3 SEC) jumped out to an early lead in the 1st inning. Hannah McEwen reached base on a double to center field, and scored two at-bats later when Danielle Gibson doubled her home to give the Razorbacks the early 1-0 advantage.

Following the single by Smith to tie the game, Hannah Gammill answered in the 4th inning by launching a solo shot to left center that would give Arkansas their lead back, 2-1.

The home run would end up being the winning run. With the home run in the 4th inning, Gammill now leads the team in home runs with 15.

Six batters recorded a hit in the game, with McEwen, Gibson, and Kacie Hoffman grabbing multi-base hits in addition to Gammill’s home run.

With the win over Kentucky, Arkansas has now won the opening game of a conference series in four of the last five tries. The lone exception being a 2-0 loss to Ole Miss on April 1, but they would bounce back by winning the final two games of the series.

Game two of the series is set for 7 p.m. Saturday night at Bogle Park. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2.

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