Their weekend trip to Mississippi might have been a bust, due to wet weather, but the Greenwood Lady Bulldogs’ softball team has a nice little five-game unbeaten streak, picking up a 0-0 non-conference victory over the Paris Lady Eagles this past Monday after returning home from the Magnolia State.
Conference foes Alma, Russellville, Clarksville, and Siloam Springs have all been victims since Greenwood dropped back-to-back games to Class 7A Bentonville-West and reigning 6A state champion Sheridan, sandwiched around spring break last month.
Overall, the Lady Bulldogs are 10-3 on the season pending the outcome of Tuesday’s road game at Clarksville. They were also slated to play at Class 7A Fayetteville on Wednesday. Results were not available at press time. The GHS girls remain unbeaten in 6A/5A-West conference play at 6-0.
Last weekend the GHS girls climbed on a bus and headed to Southaven, Mississippi, located south of Memphis, TN, for a two-day tournament event. But widespread rain over Arkansas moved eastward over the weekend and completely washed out the tournament.
Paris
The Lady Bulldogs used a consistent offensive attack, scoring in every inning, to take a 9-2 win at the expense of the Class 4A Lady Eagles this past Monday. Starter Abbi Clem claimed the pitching “W” with four solid innings before getting relief help from Kimmie Colyer and Haven Clements.
Clem yielded four hits, gave three walks, and coughed up one earned run with three strikeouts. Colyer’s two innings of work included one hit, one walk, while also fanning three batters. Clements retired all three hitters she faced with no Ks.
On offense, the GHS girls scored single runs in the first, second, fourth, and sixth innings, plus three runs in the third and two more in the fifth. Paris scored once in the first and again in the fifth.
Greenwood’s tallied only six total hits, but Mariah Hamilton had two of them, including a double, two RBIs, and two runs scored. Paxtyn Hayes also had a double and two runs batted in. Angela Price and Ericka Calderon added an RBI each. The Paris defense made three errors, so only five of the Lady Bulldogs’ runs were earned.
Alma
Last Thursday, April 5th, the day before heading to Mississippi, the Lady Bulldogs hosted Alma and got a stellar pitching performance from starter Abbi Clem in a 4-0 complete game shutout victory.
Clem yielded just three hits and two walks over seven innings, recording three strikeouts. The GHS defense committed only one error behind her. Clem retired the side in order in four of her seven innings.
Greenwood scored all its runs early, with one tally in the first and three more in the second. Neither team scored over the final 4½ innings.
In the bottom of the first, Angela Price led off for the Lady Bulldogs with a double to left-center field. A two-out single by Paxtyn Hayes scored Price for the game’s first run.
In the second inning a one-out walk was followed by hits from Price, another double and RBI, a single by Emma McCorkle, and two-hole hitter Ally Sockey, an RBI single. When the dust settled, Greenwood led 4-0.
Price and Hayes led the Lady Bulldogs with two hits each. Hayes had a run batted in and Price drove home two and scored twice herself. Sockey added a pair of RBIs on one hit.
Russellville
Two days earlier, on April 3rd, Clem and the Lady Bulldogs combined for another shutout, this one a 20-0 blowout of the Lady Cyclones of Russellville. The visitors scored twice in the first frame and six times each in the second, third, and fourth innings.
Clem allowed just one hit with no walks and four strikeouts in a dominate, albeit abbreviated performance that lasted just four innings due to the mercy rule.
Offensively, Ally Sockey led Greenwood with four hits, six RBIs, and scored four runs. Harley Terry and Josie Chapple had three hits each, with Terry driving home three runs.
Lexie Castillow, Angela Price, Paxtyn Hayes, and Mariah Hamilton all had two hits each among Greenwood’s total of 19. Price and Hayes had three RBIs each. Castillow and Sockey both hit homeruns.
Clarksville
On Friday, March 30th, the GHS girls hosted the Lady Panthers in yet another conference game and staged a come-from-behind 6-3 win. Kimmie Colyer earned the pitching victory in relief.
Abbi Clem started the game, but struggled in the first inning, giving up unearned three runs on a pair of doubles. A walk, a wild pitch, and a defensive error didn’t help either. Colyer took over in the second and covered the final six innings, giving three hits, no walks, and fanned four Clarksville hitters.
The Lady Bulldogs scored once in the first inning, but still trailed 3-1 before taking the lead with four runs in the second and one more in the fourth. Greenwood had just six hits in the game, but benefitted from five Clarksville fielding errors. Only one GHS run was earned.
Mariah Hamilton had two hits for the Lady Bulldogs and an RBI. Ally Sockey had two RBIs on a second-inning triple, Ericka Calderon stroked a triple and scored three times, while Harley Terry added a double and scored a run.
Siloam Springs
A day earlier, on March 29th, morning rain and windy conditions threatened cancellation of Greenwood’s late afternoon home conference game with Siloam Springs. But the weather improved and both teams agreed to play, though only the Lady Bulldogs showed up in a 13-0 victory.
“It rained like crazy,” said GHS Head Coach Ronnie Sockey. “It stopped about 9 [a.m.]. Dr. [Dustin] Smith [Greenwood’s Athletic Director] came down early and was here pumping water [until] 3 [p.m.]. So big thanks to Dr. Smith for getting that done for us. We knew as soon as it stopped [raining] that underneath the tarp it was going to be perfect. We walked across [the outfield] and nobody was sinking, so we knew we would be able to get [the field] ready.”
Greenwood broke the game open early with two runs in the first and an 11-run second frame, while starting pitcher Abbi Clem tossed a five-inning no-hitter. The only runners to reach base did so by walks. She threw 70 pitches and struck out five batters.
“Abbi [was] big for us, throwing strikes and only two walks,” said Coach Sockey. “That’s been the thing that’s got us in trouble – we’ve been walking a few people and giving up a lot of fly balls, but we talked about keeping the ball down in the zone and trusting the defense and getting those groundball outs. She made some big pitches and got some big strikeouts for us also,” he added..
In the third inning, Siloam Springs’ lead-off batter stroked a liner back to Clem. Then with two outs, shortstop Ally Sockey leapt high to flag down another liner that threatened to end the no-no.
“That was an awesome play,” said Clem said of Sockey’s catch. “I think I did pretty good considering the [weather] conditions. I didn’t think I was going to [pitch a no-hitter].”
Clem’s no-hit gem couldn’t have come at a better time for Greenwood. The Lady Bulldogs are missing their top hurler, senior Kaila Cartwright, recovering from an ankle injury. She’s not expected back for at least a couple more weeks, just in time for the conference tournament.
The scoring started in the bottom of the first after a pair of walks to Ericka Calderon and Ally Sockey. Calderon later scored on a wild pitch and Mariah Hamilton drove home Sockey on a sac fly.
Rheding Wagoner singled to start the second inning and scored the first of 11 runs in the frame. Batting around, Wagoner later added an RBI single.
Among the other GHS offensive highlights in the frame, Makynlee Young and Angela Price had RBI singles and Harley Terry drove home two runs with a triple down the left-field line.
A critical Siloam Springs error in the inning meant that most of Greenwood’s runs were unearned. But a couple of wild pitches, walks, and stolen bases also contributed to the scoring outburst.
Statistically, the GHS girls had only seven hits in the game, two each from Wagoner and Young. Terry and Hamilton had two RBIs each. Emma McCorkle, Ericka Calderon, and Hamilton all scored two runs each.
Upcoming
Greenwood traveled to Clarksville this past Tuesday, played at Fayetteville on Wednesday, then will host Farmington on Friday and Bentonville on Monday before traveling to Vilonia next Tuesday to face 6A West foe El Dorado. The 6A West conference tournament begins on April 28th followed by the 6A state tournament in early May.