Lady Hornets play just long enough to get 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).
The Bryant Lady Hornets managed to score just enough runs and play just enough innings to notch their first 7A-Central Conference victory before the lightning and hail and rain hit the Bryant area on Thursday, March 13.
With a run in the first and another in the third, the Lady Hornets took a 2-0 lead then kept a rally by the Russellville Lady Cyclones to just one run in the top of the fifth before the storm arrived. Getting through the top of the fifth made it an official game.
The win improved the Lady Hornets to 8-3 overall this season going into the Bootsie Gordon Memorial Tournament in Benton on Saturday, March 15. Bryant was set to open the tourney against Smackover.
Earlier in the week, the Lady Hornets, behind two-hit shutout pitching by Christen Kirchner, earned a road win over the Lake Hamilton Lady Wolves, 2-0.
Against Russellville, Kirchner and Kristen Dorsey each had two hits. The duo combined to put the first run of the game on the board in the opening inning when Dorsey doubled and Kirchner singled her home.
In the third, Kirchner got the offense going with a single and a stolen base. She then scored the second run on an RBI single by Brittany Welton.
Bryant threatened in the second and fourth, loading the bases but couldn’t add to the 2-0 advantage.
In the top of the fifth with the storm clouds gathering, an error gave Russellville a chance to get on the board, a single and a fielder’s choice brought the run around before Bryant got out of the inning with the tying run stranded.
Kirchner struck out five during the game.
On Monday, March 10, the Lady Hornets spoiled the inaugural game at Lake Hamilton’s new softball field. After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Lady Hornets wasted little time getting the lead. Dorsey, the first batter of the game, got the first hit on the new field, a single. Kirchner sacrificed her to second then a passed ball allowed her to take third. She then scored the first run on a base hit by Sarah Hart.
It stayed 1-0 until the fifth when Kirchner cracked a double, Hart sacrificed her to third and Shanika Johnson drilled an RBI single to make it 2-0.
And that’s all there was. The game lasted less than an hour as Kirchner whipped up the shutout, fanning six.
