HUNTSVILLE ? An RBI single in the second inning by Brittany Bearden and a solo home run by Janae Owens in the fourth inning helped power Central Arkansas to a 5-1 softball victory over Sam Houston State Sunday afternoon at Bearkat Softball Stadium.

Central Arkansas, which started its three-game weekend series with the Bearkats 0-17 in Southland Conference play, took two of three contests against Sam Houston State to up their league mark to 2-18. The Sugar Bears are 3-32 for the season.

Bearkat pitcher Brandi Crnkovic (12-13) gave up only six hits in seven innings, striking out four of the 27 batters she face as she took the loss. UCA's Kora Behrens (2-8) was the winner, spreading eight hits over seven innings with two strike outs.

Kayla Hitchcock started the scoring for Central Arkansas, reaching first on an error in the second inning. Bearden singled to score Hitchcock and give UCA a 1-0 lead. Owens made it 2-0 with her home run in the fourth.

UCA took advantage of two Bearkat errors to score three more runs in the fifth inning. Sarah Garcia had an RBI double and Amanda Perrott and Keatha Tollett had RBIs on ground outs.

Sam Houston avoided the shutout with a run in the bottom of the seventh as Alex Survant singled and Kendra Spivey drove her in with a single.

Sam Houston State drops to 26-22 for the season and 11-10 in Southland Conference action.