The 2024 high school softball season is quickly coming to a close and the Greenwood Lady Bulldogs have yet to drop a 5A West conference game. They are a perfect 10-0 in league play after a pair of road victories at Mountain Home this past Tuesday, and 18-3 overall. Head Coach Donald Hart’s varsity squad will be off until Saturday when they travel to Magnet Cove in Hot Spring County to take on the Lady Panthers and the Lady Scrappers of Nashville. The junior varsity team will play a pair of 5-inning games at Lamar on Thursday.
Siloam Springs game #1
On Monday, April 8th the Lady Bulldogs hosted the Lady Panthers in a doubleheader that was originally slated for the next day before being moved due to a bad weather forecast for Tuesday. But the outcome wasn’t likely affected by the change in date as Greenwood dominated both games, winning the opener, 12-4.
The GHS girls led 3-0 after two frames, scoring once in the first and twice in the second inning. The Lady Panthers scored once in the top of the third and three more times in the fifth, but Greenwood added two runs in the fourth and six in the bottom of the fifth to lead 11-4. One more Greenwood tally in the sixth accounted for the final score.
Senior Tori Howard toed the rubber in the circle for the Lady Bulldogs, throwing 103 pitches over seven innings, allowing eight hits and four runs, but only one earned. She stroked the zone for 70 strikes and gave just one walk with three strikeouts, allowing her defense to work behind her. Greenwood made just one costly error.
Greenwood had 11 hits in the game but benefited from eight errors by the Siloam Springs defense, allowing four unearned runs to score. Howard led the way offensively with a team-high three hits, including a pair of doubles and four runs batted in. Bri Taylor and Daisy Parker had two hits each, all singles. Parker also scored twice. Piper Pitts, Haley McAdams, Saylor Hart, and Rylee Floyd all had one hit each with McAdams picking up a two-bagger and an RBI. Floyd also drove home two runs and scored three times herself. Hart also scored twice.
Siloam Springs game #2
Game two was just as lopsided as the opener, with Greenwood plating six runs in the first inning in route to a 10-1 conference victory, completing the twinbill sweep. The Lady Panthers scored their lone tally in the second inning off GHS starter Haley McAdams. The Lady Bulldogs then added a run in the fourth and three more in the fifth inning. The GHS ladies had 12 hits in the game and again took advantage of some sloppy Siloam Springs’ defense to score six unearned runs.
For her part, McAdams needed 101 pitches, 58 of them strikes to complete seven innings of work, walking five but allowing just two hits and one earned run with seven strikeouts, stranding six enemy baserunners. She also contributed with the bat, getting a hit and a walk in four plate appearances.
Bri Taylor, Emmy Burton, and Rylee Floyd were the offensive leaders for Greenwood with three hits each. Taylor had two singles and a homerun with five RBIs, scoring two runs. Burton had two singles and a double with an RBI and run scored. Floyd also drove home a run and scored once herself. Brilea Rofkahr, Daisy Parker, and McAdams all had one hit each. Rofkahr had two RBIs and scored twice while Parker had a double, a walk, and scored a run.
Benton Lady Panthers
Four days later the Lady Bulldogs traveled to Central Arkansas to face the Lady Panthers of Benton, winners of the last three 5A state championships. If the GHS girls want to win a state title this year, they will likely have to go through the Benton girls to do it, so a regular season meeting could certainly be beneficial for Coach Hart’s team.
However, things didn’t go well for Greenwood early with Benton scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning off GHS #3 starter Alyssa Lovell. But the good news is that Benton didn’t score again as Lovell settled down and pitched four scoreless innings before being relieved in the sixth by Haley McAdams, who also threw a scoreless frame.
Greenwood was able to score single runs in the third and fourth innings but was held to four hits in the game. Both teams made two defensive errors. Piper Pitts, Brilea Rofkahr, Bri Taylor, and Rylee Floyd all had solo hits for Greenwood in the 4-2 non-conference loss. Taylor had a double while she and Floyd accounted for the only two GHS runs batted in. Rofkahr and Emmy Burton scored Greenwood’s only runs.
Mountain Home game #1
This past Tuesday afternoon the Lady Bulldogs loaded the bus and headed to Baxter County for their longest road trip of the season to Mountain Home. But the nearly 400-mile round trip was worth the effort for Greenwood’s ninth and tenth conference wins against no losses. Tori Howard worked the circle for the Lady Bulldogs and tossed a two-hit complete game shutout in the opener. She fanned eight Lady Bombers along the way with no walks. She threw 75 strikes among her 100 pitches in the game.
Greenwood whacked six hits in the game and scored twice in their first at bat, adding an insurance tally in the top of the sixth inning for the 3-0 victory. Six Lady Bulldogs had one hit each in the win with Saylor Hart, Daisy Parker, and Tori Howard each getting an RBI. Howard’s and Parker’s hits left the yard for solo homeruns. Besides those three, Piper Pitts, Ryleigh Decker, and Rylee Floyd also had hits.
Mountain Home game #2
Haley McAdams earned the pitching victory in a game two blowout, 15-0, in five innings. The senior hurler went all five frames, allowing just one hit and no walks on 44 total pitches, 37 of them strikes. She also fanned two Mountain Home hitters and let her defense work behind her. Greenwood made no errors in the game.
The Lady Bulldogs walloped two Lady Bombers’ pitchers for 18 hits and also scored six unearned runs after a pair of Mountain Home errors. Greenwood plated two runs in the first inning, seven in the second, three more in the third, two in the fourth, and one final run in the top of the fifth inning. Ten different GHS batters had hits with six of them having multiple hits, including four doubles.
Brilea Rofkahr and Haley McAdams had three hits each including a two-bagger for Rofkahr, plus an RBI and two runs scored. McAdams had three RBIs in the game besides her stellar pitching performance. Ryleigh Decker, Saylor Hart, Daisy Parker, and Rylee Floyd all had two knocks each, with Parker and Floyd each getting a double. Hart and Floyd also had two RBIs each.
Alyssa Lovell, Emily Creason, Bri Taylor, and Tori Howard all had solo hits, including a double for Lovell and two RBIs each for Creason, Taylor, and Howard. Besides Brilea Rofkar, Ryleigh Decker, Tori Howard, and Emmy Burton all scored two runs, but Daisy Parker topped the list with three runs scored.
The team returned to Greenwood late Tuesday night after the doubleheader sweep, but it put some distance between the two teams with Mountain Home dropping three games off the conference lead with a trio of league losses. Pending Tuesday’s league results, Greenwood remains tied with Greenbrier atop the conference standings, neither of which has a league loss. The Lady Bulldogs will play their final two games of the regular season at Greenbrier on April 30th, possibly for the conference championship.