Lady Hornets keep title hopes alive
EDITOR’S NOTE: In this time of COVID-19, with no sports action, BryantDaily.com will be posting past stories of Bryant athletics either posted on BryantDaily.com (from 2009 to the present) or published in the Bryant Times (from 1998 to 2008).
The Bryant Lady Hornets’ quest for a AAAAA-Central Conference championship got a lift when they scored five runs in the first inning on the way to a 7-4 win over the Mount St. Mary’s Belles on Monday, April 25.
The win came on the heels of a heartbreaking league loss to Conway, 3-2, on Thursday, April 21 (with a 6-0 loss to Hope in a non-league game on Friday, April 22 in between). It improved the Lady Hornets to 17-9 overall and 9-2 in league play with a rematch with Mount St. Mary’s pending on Tuesday, April 26, and home dates with North Little Rock (on Thursday, April 28) and Little Rock McClellan (Tuesday, May 3) still to be played.
The Lady Hornets have already sewed up a bid to the Class AAAAA State Tournament in Rogers which begins May 7.
A two-run homer by Kara Vaughan, her fourth of the season, highlighted the Lady Hornets’ big first inning in the win over Mount St. Mary’s. Amie Hubbard started the inning with a single to center. Amanda Grappe sacrificed her to second then Kaci Melhorn singled to right to bring her home. Tyler Cox chased Melhorn home with a single then Vaughan blasted the first pitch she saw for her homer to make it 4-0.
Allison Grappe kept the inning going with a singled. She eventually scored as well.
Vaughan, Bryant’s starting pitcher shut out the Belles on one hit for five innings before running into trouble in the sixth. In the meantime, the Lady Hornets tacked on another run in the third. Vaughan and Allison Grappe singled and Haley King was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Kristen Dorsey, running for Vaughan, was able to score when Kalin Dreher grounded into a force at second.
When the first two Belles reached in the sixth, Cox relieved Vaughan. She struck out the first batter she faced but then struggled with her control, walking the next two.
Mount St. Mary’s got all four of its runs in the inning, cutting the lead to 6-4 but Cox got out of the inning and, after the Lady Hornets scored another run in the bottom of the inning, she worked around a two-out single in the seventh to end the game.
The insurance run in the sixth was scored by King who singled to lead off the inning.
Against Conway, the Lady Hornets fell behind when the Lady Wampus Cats scored all three of their runs in the top of the second. A pair of walks and an infield hit set the table. A two-out single plated two and a wild pitch allowed the third run to score. Vaughan then allowed just two more hits the rest of the game.
Bryant cut a run off the lead in the bottom of the second when King singled, stole second and drew a wild throw that allowed her to go to third, then Randie Julliusson came through with a two-out, two-strike single to bring her home.
But Conway pitcher Lydia Dunlap retired the next 12 in a row as the game became a pitchers’ duel. In the bottom of the seventh, however, the Lady Hornets made a bid to pull the game out. Vaughan reached on an error and Laci Rowland came in as a courtesy runner for her. Another error allowed Allison Grappe to reach base as Rowland reached third. Bonnie Stroud ran for Grappe and swiped second to put the tying run in scoring position. Rowland scored on a groundout by King but Stroud had to hold at second. Dunlap then got the next two batters to pop out to end the game.
Against Hope, the Lady Hornets were shutout on one hit, a single by Hubbard leading off the fourth. They only had one other baserunner, Julliusson, who walked with two out in the third.
A four-run second that included two errors and a hit batter lifted Hope to the win.
