The Greenwood varsity girls softball team wrapped up a stellar conference season earlier this past Tuesday with a doubleheader sweep over Greenbrier, improving their 2024 record to 23-3 overall and a perfect 14-0 mark in 5A West league play. They now await the start of the state tournament next week in Harrison. The Lady Bulldogs are led by second-year GHS Head Coach Donald Hart.
As the top seed from the West, the Lady Bulldogs will play the Lady Wolves from Lake Hamilton, the #4 seed from the South, on Thursday, May 9th, at 3 p.m. A win would propel them into a quarter-final contest the next day with the semifinals set for Saturday the 11th. Their second-round opponent will be the winner of the Valley View (#2 East) and Vilonia (#3 Central) first-round contest. In preparation for the state tournament, the GHS ladies will travel to Bentonville on Tuesday for a non-conference contest.
Booneville Lady Bearcats
On Monday, April 22nd, the GHS ladies hosted Booneville in non-conference play and notched a 6-0 seven-inning victory. Coach Hart used the occasion to get work for all three of his hurlers, Tori Howard, Alyssa Lovell, and Haley McAdams. The two seniors, Howard and McAdams, were sandwiched around Lovell, a sophomore, for seven frames of nearly perfect work.
Howard started the contest and threw four perfect frames, retiring all 12 batters she faced, five of them by strikeout. Lovell relieved and went two innings, giving up a walk but no hits. McAdams closed out the victory in the seventh, giving up the only hit of the day to the Lady Bearcats. The trio combined for seven strikeouts, one walk, and no runs. The defense made one error behind them.
Offensively, Greenwood scored solo runs in the first and third innings, then two runs in each of the fifth and sixth frames on nine total hits. They received one walk and benefitted from two Booneville fielding errors. Two of Greenwood’s runs were unearned. Four of the Lady Bulldogs’ nine hits were doubles and they added three stolen bases.
Not only did she pitch well, but Howard also led the way at the plate with three hits, including a double, a sacrifice fly, and a run batted in. Haley McAdams and Brilea Rofkahr had two hits each with both of McAdams’ knocks being doubles with a pair of RBIs. Rofkahr also had an RBI. Ryleigh Decker and Bri Taylor had the other two hits with the latter getting a two-bagger and two RBIs. Greenwood’s Taelyn Martin scored three times and pilfered a base along with Piper Pitts and Decker.
Alma Lady Airedales game #1
On Tuesday, April 23rd, the Lady Bulldogs hosted the Alma girls and continued their total domination of their 5A West opponents with a doubleheader sweep, outscoring the Lady Airedales by a combined 29-3 margin. Tori Howard and Haley McAdams did the honors for Greenwood in the circle with Howard throwing six innings and McAdams just three frames. Both games ended prematurely due to run-rule requirements.
In the opener, Howard needed 68 pitches to get through six innings, 45 of them strikes. She gave up three fifth inning runs but allowed just four hits and one free pass in the contest. The defense was perfect behind her, and she put up zeros through four innings before the Alma girls got to her in the fifth. But the GHS offense had already built a 10-0 lead at that point.
After a scoreless first inning, the Lady Bulldogs plated six runs in the second and four more in the third. They were held without a run in the fourth and fifth innings before scoring three times in the sixth to end the game early with a 10-run lead at 13-3. Brilea Rofkahr, Rylee Floyd, and Tori Howard led the way with the sticks, each with three hits.
Rofkahr had the only double of the game for Greenwood among her three hits, adding a pair of RBIs and a run scored. Floyd had three singles and crossed the plate three times and shined on the basepaths with four steals. Howard had two RBIs among her three singles. No other GHS player had more than one hit, all singles. They included Piper Pitts, Emily Creason, Bri Taylor, Saylor Hart, Daisy Parker, and Lakyn Dawson. Pitts, Creason, and Parker had two RBIs each. Dawson had one.
Alma Lady Airedales game #2
The bats continued to boom for Greenwood in the nightcap, scoring ten runs in the first inning and six more in the second. The game ended midway through the third after Haley McAdams shut down the Alma offense for a third straight scoreless inning, resulting in the 16-0 GHS victory, their 12th straight conference win with no losses. McAdams allowed just one hit and had five Ks in her three innings of work.
Rofkahr, Burton, and Parker all had two hits with Rofkahr and Parker picking up doubles and two RBIs each. Burton drove home one run and had a stolen base. All three players scored twice in the short-lived contest. Ryleigh Decker also had a hit and scored once for Greenwood, adding an RBI. McAdams had a hit, a walk, and two RBIs to help her own cause. Bri Taylor added a double and three runs batted in, while Saylor Hart had a hit and an RBI. Rylee Floyd and Tori Howard also had a hit and an RBI each.
Greenbrier Lady Panthers game #1
The Lady Bulldogs closed out their 2024 conference schedule on the road in Central Arkansas at Greenbrier last Tuesday with their seventh doubleheader sweep of the season, winning both games by comfortable margins, 12-6 and 18-7. Tori Howard notched the pitching victory in the opener with Haley McAdams doing the same in game two. Both hurlers went seven frames, against the Lady Panthers, a good offensive team.
Howard was knocked around a bit, allowing 13 hits, but somehow limited the damage to five earned runs, partly because she gave up just one walk and had seven strikeouts. Howard threw 115 pitches and the Lady Bulldogs made two errors behind her, allowing one unearned run to score. She stranded 10 Greenbrier baserunners. The Lady Panthers plated one run in the bottom of the first, then added four more tallies in the third, but still trailed, 8-5. They added another run in the sixth, but it wasn’t enough to avoid the loss.
Greenwood scored once in the first, five times in the second, twice more in the third, and four times in the fourth before being held scoreless in their last three at bats. They also managed to get 13 hits, scoring 12 runs, eight of them earned with the Greenbrier defense making two costly errors.
At the plate, Howard led the way with four hits, including three singles and a homerun, plus three RBIs and a run scored. Brilea Rofkahr and Bri Taylor had two hits and one RBI each, with Rofkahr picking up a double and Taylor scoring twice. Piper Pitts, Haley McAdams, Emmy Burton, Daisy Parker, and Rylee Floyd all had solo knocks. Pitts and Parker had two RBIs each while McAdams and Floyd scored two runs each. Burton also added an RBI.
Greenbrier Lady Panthers game #2
McAdams needed 101 pitches to get through seven innings, facing 35 Lady Panthers along the way. Her strike ratio was excellent with 75 pitches for strikes against just 26 balls. She allowed 12 total hits and gave up three runs in both the first and second innings and a solo tally in the third, but Greenwood still led 8-7 after three frames. The Lady Panthers were then held scoreless the rest of the way. Only three of their seven runs were earned with Greenwood making two costly mistakes in the field, allowing four unearned runs. McAdams also had five strikeouts with no walks, stranding seven enemy baserunners.
The Lady Bulldogs led 1-0 after their first at bat but trailed 3-1 before batting in the second. They tied the game with two more runs but trailed 6-3 after two innings. Then a five-run top of the third put Greenwood on top to stay, leading 8-6. Greenbrier added a run in the bottom half of the frame to make it 8-7, but 10 more runs over the final three frames put the game away for the visitors. Greenwood belted 17 hits in the win.
Four GHS players had three hits each – Bri Taylor, Saylor Hart, Daisy Parker, and Rylee Floyd – with Parker getting a double and driving home a team-high five runs. Taylor had an RBI with Hart driving home two runs and scoring four times for her dad’s team. Floyd also had two RBIs and scored three times. Emmy Burton added two hits, including a triple, and equaled Parker’s five RBIs. Piper Pitts and Brilea Rofkahr both had solo hits, with Pitts getting a double and two RBIs. Rofkahr also had an RBI. Emily Creason added a single while Hart, Floyd, Burton, and McAdams all had a stolen base in the win.