Hot hitters spark win over Lady Bulldogs
EDITOR’S NOTE: In this time of COVID-19, with no sports action, BryantDaily.com will be 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).
By ROB PATRICK
BRYANT TIMES
SHERWOOD — Jenna White and Misty Phillips continued their hot hitting as the Bryant Lady Hornets advanced to the semifinals of the Class AAAAA/AAAA State Tournament with an 11-4 victory over the rival White Hall Lady Bulldogs Saturday at McReynolds Sports Complex.
The Lady Hornets improved to 29-7 on the season going into Tuesday’s semifinal against the Jacksonville Lady Red Devils. Jacksonville advanced with a 9-7 win over Little Rock Fair and a 15-0 victory over Pine Bluff on Saturday.
In the other semifinal, Sylvan Hills which knocked off defending State champion Benton 10-8 on Saturday, was set to face Fayetteville.
The winners of Tuesday’s games will meet this Saturday at the Lake Fayetteville Softball Complex to determine the State championship.
The Lady Hornets moved one step closer to that game with the win over White Hall, a team they had tangled with four other times this season. Though Bryant won every meeting with the Lady Bulldogs, two were one-run wins and another was by two.
(The Lady Hornets hold a 3-2 edge in five games against Jacksonville this season, by the way, with their most recent meeting going 11 innings before Bryant won.)
White reached base four times for the third consecutive game, running her streak to 15 straight at bats. She had hits in her first three at bats extending a streak of consecutive hits to nine before she reached base on an error to lead off the top of the seventh against White Hall.
She drove in three runs.
Phillips, Stephanie Kennedy, Tiffany Kennedy and Stacy Workman each had two hits for the Lady Hornets who piled up 16 all together.
Bryant led throughout, scoring in each of the first four innings to build an 8-1 lead.
In the first, Stephanie Kennedy singled and, an out later, White smacked a low liner to right-center that White Hall’s Jessie Duncan got too close to. The ball hit once and bounced over Duncan’s head to the fence. White wound up with an inside-the-park home run.
Phillips followed with a long drive to center that resulted in a triple. With two down, Tiffany Kennedy brought Phillips home with a single to right to make it 3-0.
After White Hall was retired in order in the bottom of the first, the Lady Hornets added a run in the second. Workman singled and Courtney Stone doubled. A one-out sacrifice fly by Stephanie Kennedy plated the run.
The Lady Bulldogs managed to load the bases in the bottom of the second but White fielded a slow roller in front of the plate off Linda Duck’s bat and tossed to catcher Kelly Bennett for a force at the plate for the second out of the inning. Leslie Elizondo then flew out to left to retire the side.
In turn, the Lady Hornets scored three more times with White leading off the inning with a triple. Phillips singled her in. An out later, Tiffany Kennedy reached base on an error and, after both runners moved up a base on a groundout by Bennett, Meagan Clancy singled them in to make it 7-0.
A single, an error and an RBI groundout produced White Hall’s first run in the bottom of the inning, but the Lady Hornets got that run back in the top of the fourth. With two down, Stephanie Kennedy singled, Andrea Hammock reached on an error and White singled in the run.
Bryant turned a double play to help take the stuffing out of a potential uprising by the Lady Bulldogs in the bottom of the fifth.
But White Hall tried again to mount a rally in the bottom of the sixth. Singles by Randi Davis and Jessica Thompson and an intentional walk to April Peacock loaded the bases with one out. Jessica Duncan then hit a ball that was misplayed at first and in right allowing two runs to score. A third came home on a groundout by Jamie Cook but that’s where it ended as Clancy tracked down a popup near third base to end the inning.
White Hall’s defense then fell completely apart. Four errors and a single by Tiffany Kennedy produced three answering runs for the Lady Hornets that put the finishing touches on the win.
