Softball team bounces back to drub Fairview
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 fast-pitch softball team absorbed their first loss of the season but bounced back with a victory at home in AAAAA-South Conference action in the past week.
The Lady Hornets traveled to El Dorado Thursday and dropped a 13-1 decision. But, on Tuesday, back at home, they run-ruled the Camden Fairview Lady Cardinals 15-0.
The results left the Lady Hornets 2-1 going into today’s game at home against Texarkana.
Four home runs helped produce Tuesday’s romp. Andrea Hammock smacked two of them on the way to a 3-for-3 performance. She also walked and scored four runs.
Jennifer Smith and the Bryant defense held Fairview to just one hit in the five-inning contest. That was a double to start the game. The runner was sacrificed to third but was stranded.
The Lady Hornets took the lead with an eight-run first which started with walks to Hammock and Kelly Steed. Meagan Clancy then blasted the first of the Lady Hornets’ homers to make it 3-0.
The uprising continued with singles by Misty Phillips and Kelly Bennett. An error on a fly to left by Smith kept the inning going. Stephanie Kennedy followed with an RBI single and Sarah Medlin singled in two. With two down, Hammock capped the inning with her first round-tripper.
After Smith worked around a walk in the top of the second, then struck out the side around a walk in the third, Hammock added to the margin with a solo homer with two down in the hom third.
Again, Smith fanned the side in the fourth, this time around a walk and an error, preserving the shutout.
The Lady Hornets then put the finishing touches on the win in the bottom of the inning. Phillips started it off with a bang, smacking the team’s fourth home run of the game. After a walk to Bennett, Steffanie Kennedy drilled her second hit of the game, driving in a run.
Medlin beat out a bunt for a hit then worked a double steal with Kennedy to put runners at second and third. With two down, Hammock delivered them both with a double. Steed chased her home with a triple then scored the game-ending run on a single by Clancy.
Of the 12 batters that Smith retired in the abbreviated contest, eight came on strikeouts. She walked three and the Lady Hornets committed two errors.
The Bryant Junior Varsity also prevailed, 9-6. Melody Kocsis had two hits and Jeanne Randall contributed an RBI triple. Aleshia Joyce doubled, walked, stole a base, scored and drove in one.
At El Dorado, it was the Lady Hornets that were held down offensively. Hammock led off the game with a single then Bryant didn’t manage another safety until the fourth.
In the meantime, El Dorado scored twice in the first and seven in the second, using seven hits and five Bryant errors.
The lead increased to 12-0 in the bottom of the third.
In the fourth, Clancy finally broke through with an infield hit. She took second on Bennett’s groundout then scored on a double by Smith. The Lady Hornets loaded the bases when Medlin reached on an error and Stephanie Kennedy singled, but El Dorado got out of the jam with a doubleplay, leaving it 12-1.
The Lady Wildcats got that run back in the bottom of the inning.
In the fifth, the first two Lady Hornets grounded out then Steed was hit by a pitch and Clancy followed with a triple to chase her home. Though Bennett earned a walk, the Lady Hornets could get no more.
