The Lady Bulldogs softball team is on quite a roll, unbeaten (7-0) in 5A West conference play at the halfway mark, winners of nine consecutive games, and 15-3 overall. The GHS ladies returned from spring break to beat Russellville, Siloam Springs, and Mountain Home in league play and defeat Morrilton and Lavaca in non-conference action. They also have a busy week before Easter with games slated against Lavaca (Monday), Conway (Wednesday), and league foe Harrison (Friday). The conference and regular season wraps up in just over three weeks with the state playoffs beginning the second week of May.
GHS Head Coach Donald Hart recently offered the following observations about his team. “We've had a very competitive schedule so far, and I like the way the team never gives up and finds ways to win,” he said. “We’ve been getting solid pitching performances from three pitchers. Junior Alyssa Lovell has pitched 47.2 innings and is 4-1 with one save and an era of 1.90. Freshmen Makayla Backert has seen 37 innings spot starting and in relief. She is 6-0 with one save and an era of 1.89. Freshman Sienna Wells has been spot starting and closing for us some. She is 2-2 with 17 innings pitched and an era of 2.82. Jordyn Floyd came in against Morrilton and earned her first varsity win in 3.1 innings of scoreless ball in relief.
“So pitching has been our strong point, but our pitching would not be successful without our defense. The defense has been solid all [season], getting big outs when we've needed them. Our offense has been pretty consistent [too], providing run support with senior Piper Pitts leading with a .375 average and senior Brilea Rofkahr hitting .368 and a team-leading 20 RBI's. Seven of the nine hitters [in our lineup] are [batting] over .300. All around, we’ve played pretty solid day in and day out.
“We finished the first half of the conference [schedule] 7-0 but will have our work cut out for us the second time around to finish on top. I don't think we are playing our best ball right now but are finding ways to win. I look for us to hopefully peak when it counts, during the postseason,” the coach concluded.
Russellville
On the road in Pope County on April Fool’s Day, the Lady Bulldogs scored in five of their seven innings, including multiple runs in the third, fifth, and sixth frames. The tallies quickly added up for an 11-2 Greenwood victory. The visitors also had 11 knocks in the contest featuring nine singles, a double, and a homerun. At the same time, a pair of GHS hurlers kept the Lady Cyclones’ bats in check, limiting Russellville to six hits and two earned runs.
Freshman starter Makayla Bachert went four innings, allowing four hits and both runs. Her only fault was issuing four free passes. She was relieved by Alyssa Lovell, who closed out the conference victory with three scoreless frames of work. The Lady Bulldogs scored once in the first inning, four times in the third, twice more in the fifth, three times in the sixth, and once more in the seventh. The hometown girls scored their two runs in the bottom of the third inning.
The GHS offense was greatly aided by three walks and seven Russellville errors, leading to five unearned runs. At the plate, Lakyn Dawson and Emily Creason led the way with two hits each. Both girls drove home a run with Creason’s RBI coming on a solo blast over the wall. She also reached base four times and scored each time. Dawson had the other extra-base hit for Greenwood, a double, while seven other teammates had solo hits. Brilea Rofkahr had three RBIs and Piper Pitts drove home two runs. Isabella Meyers and Daisy Parker had solo RBIs.
Siloam Springs
The Lady Bulldogs returned to action a week later after several days of storms and rain across the state the first week of April, hosting the Lady Panthers of Siloam Springs on Tuesday, April 8th. The game quickly turned into a pitching duel between hometown starter Lola Kirby and Greenwood’s duo of Alyssa Lovell and Makayla Bachert. Kirby went the distance for the visitors while Lovell went 4.1 frames and Bachert 2.2 innings in the 4-3 GHS victory.
Siloam Springs scored in its first at-bat and added two more runs in the third inning. Greenwood responded with a solo run in both the second and third innings, then trailed 3-2 until the bottom of the sixth when the Lady Bulldogs scored twice to take their only lead of the game. Alyssa Lovell allowed all three Panthers’ runs, two earned, with the GHS defense making two errors. Lovell also had six strikeouts. Bachert added two more Ks with no hits or walks in relief.
Greenwood hitters were able to muster seven hits, all singles, led by Rylee Floyd with two knocks. Brilea Rofkahr, Laykn Dawson, Saylor Hart, Piper Pitts, and Emily Creason all had solo hits. Dawson, Pitts, and Creason had solo RBIs. Floyd, Pitts, Creason, and Taelyn Martin each scored a run in the GHS conference victory.
A pair of walks opened the bottom of the sixth for Greenwood, sandwiched around a strikeout, putting two runners on base with one out. Taelyn Martin pinch ran for Isabella Meyers, advancing to third on a passed ball before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Emily Creason. Laykn Dawson then singled to drive home Rylee Floyd with what turned out to be the winning run.
Morrilton
Stepping away from conference play two days later, the Lady Bulldogs traveled to Morrilton for what turned out to be a sloppy game by both teams, but especially by Greenwood, uncharacteristically charged with eight fielding errors. Only two of Morrilton’s six runs were earned in the 9-6 GHS win in seven innings. Sienna Wells started in the circle for the visitors with Jordan Floyd covering the final 3.1 innings in relief. The two hurlers gave up five hits and four walks to the Lady Devil Dogs.
After Greenwood scored once, the home team scored twice in the opening frame then led 5-1 after three innings, making it 6-1 in the fourth. But the GHS comeback started in the fifth with five runs to tie the score, then three more in the top of the seventh for the win. Jordan Floyd allowed just one hit and one walk over the last three innings to preserve the victory.
With the sticks, Greenwood had a quartet of hitters with multiple knocks in the game, led by Annie Been with three singles, plus an RBI and a run scored. Emmy Burton and Piper Pitts had two hits each, all singles, with Burton driving home a run and Pitts driving home two. Emily Creason also had two hits, including a double, netting an RBI. Daisy Parker and Ava Cranor had solo hits with Parker pushing across two runs. Brilea Rofkahr and Rylee Floyd scored two runs each.
Mountain Home
Last Friday the Lady Bulldogs made the long trek to Baxter County to take on the Lady Bombers of Mountain Home, one of the teams chasing Greenwood in the league standings, along with Farmington. The hometown Bombers pinned their hopes on the arm of starting pitcher Emma King, who went the distance but took the loss in a 3-0 GHS victory. Alyssa Lovell and Makayla Bachert filled the circle for Greenwood with Lovell going six frames before Bachert earned the save in the seventh. They combined to hold Mountain Home to only four hits while giving one walk. The GHS defense was perfect behind them.
The first five frames were scoreless before the visitors broke through with three runs in the top of the sixth inning. After a single by Emily Creason left her at first with two outs, both line drive outs. Taelyn Martin then ran for Creason and promptly stole second base, scoring on a single by Brilea Rofkahr. Daisy Parker then tripled home Rofkahr before scoring on a two-out single by Piper Pitts, making it 3-0.
Greenwood had six hits in the contest, led by Parker and Pitts with two knocks each. Parker had a double and triple plus an RBI and a run scored. Pitts also had an RBI while Brilea Rofkahr and Emily Creason had the other two hits, with Rofkahr adding an RBI and a run scored. Mountain Home made three errors, but all three GHS runs were earned.
Lavaca
This past Monday the GHS girls hosted the Lady Golden Arrows of neighboring Lavaca and played an abbreviated non-conference contest that lasted 4½ innings due to the 10-run rule in an 11-1 Greenwood victory. The home team scored in all four innings in which they batted, plating one run in the first inning, two in the second, one more in the third, and seven runs in the bottom of the fourth. Lavaca’s lone run crossed the plate in the top of the fifth. Greenwood out-hit the visitors 10-to-4 and made just one error to Lavaca’s three.
Freshman Sienna Wells went the distance for Greenwood in the circle, notching 15 outs over five innings that required 88 pitches, 48 of them strikes. She did walk four but allowed just four hits and one earned run. Lavaca’s starter, Hannah Winchester, also went the distance, but needed 115 pitches over four innings, giving up 10 hits, 11 runs, nine earned, and issued five walks.
Four GHS batters had two hits each, starting with Brilea Rofkahr’s single and double. Piper Pitts had a pair of triples, Emily Creason whacked a single and double, and Rylee Floyd had two singles. Rofkahr had two RBIs as did Creason. Pitts also had an RBI. Daisy Parker had a double and two RBIs while Laykn Dawson drove home a run with a double. Emmy Burton also had an RBI. Pitts and Creason scored two runs each in the win.