Bryant edges Jonesboro in State opener
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).
By ROB PATRICK
BRYANT TIMES
CABOT — With all due respect for the Jonesboro Lady Hurricane and the Fort Smith Southside Lady Rebels, it’s hard to imagine that they had the full attention of the Bryant Lady Hornets and Benton Lady Panthers, respectively, in the first round of the Class AAAAA State Tournament on Saturday, May 6. You see, if the Lady Hornets defeated the Lady Hurricane and the Lady Panthers beat the Lady Rebels, the Saline County arch-rivals would meet in the tourney’s second round. Not only would it be a renewal of their fierce rivalry, it would be a re-match of the two teams that battled in the 2005 State championship game at Fayetteville.
Jonesboro and Southside, however, almost spoiled the fun.
Both games came down to the last out but the Lady Hornets survived with a 2-0 win over Jonesboro and the Lady Panthers eked out a 1-0 win over Southside. Both games ended with potential tying or lead runs in scoring position.
The Lady Hornets, who improved to 15-10 with their win, scored both runs in the first inning and, though Tyler Cox and Christen Kirchner held Jonesboro without a hit until the seventh inning, walks and errors kept it an uneasy lead. And, add to that the fact that, after Randi Juliusson’s two-out RBI single in the first, the Lady Hornets didn’t manage another baserunner the entire game.
Cox, who walked five and struck out five in her four innings of pitching, worked around a walk and a two-out error in the top of the first.
Kirchner then opened the bottom of the inning with a double to right. Kristen Dorsey followed with an RBI single up the middle. And when Cox looped a single to left, it looked like the Lady Hornets were on their way to an easy victory.
Hailey King scorched a liner to left that was caught then Sarah Hart’s pop up was hauled down by the Jonesboro catcher and it suddenly didn’t look so easy. Juliusson, however, came through in the clutch to drive in Dorsey, making it 2-0.
While that was it for Bryant’s offense, Jonesboro had runners on base in all but one inning. In the second, a two-out walk was erased when Juliusson threw the baserunner out trying to steal. The same thing occurred after a lead-off walk in the third. That proved to be big when another walk and a wild pitch followed with two out. But Cox got off the hook with a strikeout to keep it 2-0.
In the fourth, Jonesboro’s Katie Osment drew a lead-off walk. Sara Muegge tried to get down a sacrifice bunt but she popped it up. Juliusson made the catch then threw to Hart, the Bryant second baseman who was covering first, to double Osment up.
Kirchner relieved in the fifth and retired the side in order but, with one out in the sixth, she struck out Bailey Sims with a pitch in the dirt. Juliusson recovered the ball and made a throw to first but Cox didn’t realize what had happened and wasn’t ready for the throw. Sims reached safely but Kirchner came back to strike out the next two to leave her stranded.
In the seventh, Muegge managed an infield hit — her team’s first of the game — to lead off the inning. She was forced out at second on a grounder to third by Amber Collier who, in turn, was forced out on a splendid play by Hart on a grounder hit to the second baseman’s right by Michelle Cox.
Kirchner was a strike away from ending it when Anna Beth Burton fought off a pitch and looped it into right for a single. When the lead runner drew a late throw to third, Burton advanced to second to put the tying runs in scoring position. But Kirchner got the next batter Alyssa Pierangeli to tap back to her and, with the throw to first, the Lady Hornets had escaped with the win.
