Lady Hornets earn first league win
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continue 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).
For the second game in a row, the Bryant Lady Hornets softball team showed a flair for the dramatic Tuesday in their AAAAA-South Conference opener against the Camden Fairview Lady Cardinals.
In their season-opening win over Mount St. Mary’s, they scored twice in the eighth to extract a close victory. On Tuesday, they snapped a 3-3 tie with a run in the bottom of the sixth then retired Fairview in the seventh to earn a 4-3 victory.
Fairview had just tied the game in the top of the sixth with a lead-off walk and a one-out single setting the table for a two-run double.
Jennifer Smith, the Lady Hornets’ senior pitcher, got out of the inning by inducing a popup to shortstop Rachel Blakley then getting a strikeout to end the frame.
Smith would strike out two more in the seventh around a two-out single to put the game away. She finished with 11 strikeouts and five walks.
In the bottom of the sixth, Kelli Steed drew a lead-off walk but was retired on a force at second when Mistica Phillips drilled one into right field. But Phillips moved up on a sacrifice by Kelly Bennett then scored what proved to be the decisive run on a clutch single by Smith.
Smith worked around a single and a walk in the first inning but, in the second, Fairview got on the board with a lead-off home run by Lacey Lester.
The Lady Hornets tied it in the bottom of the inning, however. Mistica Phillips led off with a single and advanced to second when the ball was misplayed in left. A passed ball allowed her to reach third and she scored on a sacrifice fly by Bennett.
Smith worked around an error in the third and a walk and a single in the fourth.
Bryant took the lead in the home fourth. With one out, Steed reached on an error and advanced when Phillips was thrown out at first on a tap in front of the plate. But Bennett came through with the two-out RBI single that plated Steed.
In the fifth, a one-out walk came to nothing for the Lady Cardinals and the Lady Hornets extended their lead. With one out, Andrea Hammock singled and stole second. Stacy Workman reached on an error then Lindsey Sullivan singled Hammock home to make it 3-1.
Now 2-0 overall this season, the Lady Hornets were scheduled to host conference-rival Texarkana on Thursday. The Lady Razorbacks bring an 8-1 record into the game after a 16-0 win over Hot Springs Tuesday in the first round of a tournament in Hope.
