The 2013 season is over for the Bryant Lady Hornets softball team.[more]
The Lady Hornets made a push late in the season to make it to the Class 7A State Tournament but, in the end, the help they needed to get there didn't come. They needed the right things to happen in Pine Bluff and Rogers.
The most likely help figured to come in Rogers where the Lady Mounties of Rogers High School were trying to nail down a 7A/6A-West Conference championship by defeating crosstown rival Heritage, which held a slight edge on the Lady Hornets for the sixth and final State bid from the West. But Heritage spoiled things for Rogers and Bryant with a 4-0 win.
But even with a win by Rogers, the Lady Hornets would've needed a most unlikely scenario to develop in Pine Bluff where the Fillies, one of the worst teams in the 7A/6A-South Conference, were playing a doubleheader with Benton, one of the best teams in the league. Bryant had to have Pine Bluff sweep Benton. That didn't even come close to happening as Benton dominated.
It's the first time since Bryant started competing in fast-pitch softball in 2000 that the Lady Hornets haven't made State.
Though Bryant was to be seeded in the West, it competed in the South Conference this season after years in the Central Conference, not a good trade-off for the Lady Hornets. The South was stacked with quality, tradition-rich programs in Benton, Sheridan and Lake Hamilton.
The young Bryant team, with one senior, Carly Yazza, returning to play (another, McKenzie Rice, was lost for the season before it began), finished the season 13-13 overall and 8-6 in league play.
