One thing that Bryant Lady Hornets head softball coach Lisa Dreher was sure of going into the 2021 season was that her team would hit. And, in their opener on Friday, a game to benefit the Arkansas Activities Association catastrophic insurance fund, they verified her belief.
The Lady Hornets scored four in the third and seven in the fifth while freshman Leah Hicks stifled the White Hall Lady Bulldogs’ bats, holding them to one run on three hits over five innings. The 11-1 lead held up as White Hall rallied for five in the top of the sixth to make the final score 11-6.
The Lady Hornets host Beebe on Tuesday, March 2.
They hammered out 12 hits in the game including a home run by Regan Dillon and doubles from Bella Herring, Macy Hoskins and Alissa Suarez.
Hicks fanned three and struggled with location. She walked eight.
The game was scoreless until Bryant’s third inning when, with two down, Kallee Nichols beat out an infield single. Caitlin LaCerra did the same the Suarez drove both home with a lined double to center.
Abby Gentry kept the inning going with a lined single off the White Hall pitcher then Herring ripped a single to left to plate Suarez. Gentry followed when the ball was mishandled.
White Hall managed its first run in the top of the fourth on a pair of walks, a double steal and a groundout.
Hicks pitched around a pair of walks in the fifth and, in the home half, the Lady Hornets blew the game up.
Hoskins walked, Nichols beat out an infield hit and so did LaCerra to load the bases for Suarez who swatted a two-run single to right to give her four runs batted in for the game.
With LaCerra at third, Suarez stole second. With one out, Herring belted her double to center, driving in two more.
Herring advanced to third when a late throw got past the White Hall catcher. She trotted home, however, when Dillon unloaded on an 0-1 pitch.
With two away, Hicks singled and courtesy runner Paola Arana sprinted home on Hoskins’ double to left.
White Hall used four hits to take advantage of four walks and an error to score its five runs in the top of the sixth.
