By Bridget Bauer
Two run-rule games Thursday against Siloam Springs moved the Bryant Lady Hornets to 3-0 in the 7A/6A-Central Conference.
Both contests had the identical score of 10-0. In the first game, the Lady Hornets (6-1 overall) tallied runs in the first, fourth and fifth innings. In the second contest, they accrued runs in all five innings. Freshman Raven Loveless recorded the win in the first game and gave up two hits while striking out six batters and walking one. In the second game, senior Abby Staton yielded one hit, stuck out 10 batters and walked two.
In the opening contest against the Lady Panthers, the Lady Hornets piled up 13 hits with freshman Regan Ryan and senior Cayla McDowell slapping three apiece. Senior Jordan Williams totaled two hits while Loveless, Julie Ward, Mallory Theel, Daniele Singleton and Sarah Evans all recorded one hit apiece.
Bryant put three runs on the board in the bottom of the first for a 3-0 lead. Ward had an RBI grounder while Loveless doubled and chased in Williams and McDowell, who both reached base on doubles.
Over the next two innings, the Lady Hornets were scoreless but erupted for four runs in the bottom of the fourth. Ward added two more RBIs on her double which sent Ryan and Evans, who both walked, home. Ward’s courtesy runner, Maddie Stephens, scored on McDowell’s two-base hit, and McDowell scored on Williams’ single.
The contest was put away in the bottom of the fifth when Bryant tallied three more runs. Ward recorded her fourth RBI on her sacrifice fly that sent Evans home. Shayla McKissock ended the game when she cracked her double sent home McDowell and Ryan, who reached on singles.
In the second contest, the Lady Hornets tallied three runs each in the first and second frames, and sandwiched one run apiece in the third and fifth stanzas around two runs in the fourth. Of their 10 hits, Ward, Staton and McDowell all banged two hits apiece with Ryan, Williams, Loveless and Theel adding one each.
The first stanza was highlighted by Ward’s two-run double with the other run coming after Stephens went home on a passed ball. In the second inning, Staton and McDowell recorded RBI doubles with Jaclynn Greenwood going home on an error.
In the third inning, Kyla Baker scored on a passed ball. The two runs in the fourth frame came on Williams’ RBI single and Loveless’ fielder’s choice. The game was over in the fifth inning after Ward’s single sent Ryan in, after she had reached on a single.
