1-4 A Softball Regional : Lady Cards advance; Prairie Grove falls
Posted on Sunday, May 4, 2008
FARMINGTON - The Farmington Lady Cardinals handed the ball on the hill to its 20-game winner Skyler Smith, and helped her at the plate with a big hitting day in its 4 A Region 1 opener. As a result Farmington marched past Dover, 9-3, on Saturday to sets up the Cardinals in semifinal game with Dardanelle, a 9-1 winner over Gravette at 3 p.m. Monday.
With the victory the Cardinals punched its ticket to the 4 A State Tournament next weekend in Nashville.
"We came out ready to play," Farmington coach Randy Osnes said. "This is the time of year that good teams need to start peaking, and I feel that's what we're doing now."
The Cardinals (23-6 ) built momentum early. Samantha Luther and Morgan Clark started things off in the Farmington 3-run first with back to back doubles. Shelby Culver knocked in the first of her 4 RBIs on the day with a long SAC fly ball as Farmington jumped to the early 3-0 lead.
"Farmington's a good hitting team," Dover coach Lou Ann Sanders said. "They are a good team and we just didn't hit with them today."
The Lady Cardinals added a single run off of a Kayla Crisp RBI double in its third. Farmington's 12 hits included 6 extra-base hits.
"We hit the ball well up and down the lineup," Osnes said. "I was proud of our effort all of the way around."
The biggest of the Farmington extra-base raps came in its fourth. Shelby Culver deposited a Kelli Burton offering well over the 200-foot sign in dead center field for her fifth home run of the season and 33 rd RBI of the year.
"Shelby had a great day," he said. "For us to do what we needed to do up and down the lineup, we need out cleanup hitter [Culver ] to come through. Samantha Luther [2 doubles ] did a good job and they pitched around [Lacey ] Kragel. I was proud of our effort all the way around."
Dover (12-14 ) adverted the shutout in its sixth as Burton who took the loss on the mound for the Pirates hit a 3-run home run off Smith. Burton's shot was only the sixth home run ball given up by Smith this season in 131 innings.
"We put the ball in play well," Sanders said. "We didn't have very many strikeouts but we didn't hit it solid and hit it right at them.
"Kelli throws hard," Sanders said of her pitcher. "Today her ball wasn't moving really well but she did a good job on the mound. " HR-Farmington: Culver (5 ). Dover: Burton (2 ) Waldron 10 Prairie Grove 9 A superb pitching performance from Mandy Bond and a 7-run Tiger second inning wasn't enough for Prairie Grove to overcome four errors.
Waldron took advantage of the mistakes and came away with 4 runs in its sixth inning to reserve its state tournament bid. With the win, the Lady Bulldogs advance to face the winner of Saturday's late contest between Gentry and Clarksville at 5 p.m. Monday.
The Tigers committed a pair of errors in the sixth. The second followed a 2-RBI triple from Brooke Thompson, who scored on the throwing error.
"That was the difference in the game," Prairie Grove coach Chris Collins said of the Waldron sixth. "They hit the ball and we didn't make a few plays that we usually make. We didn't react well to the pressure. That comes with not being in position to win a regional game in a while. You can't take anything away from them because they hit the ball more at the end of the game than we did. That's why they are a No. 1 seed."
Megan Jeffery came up with a 2-out shot to the fence to score the winning run when it appeared the game would go into extra innings.
Not to be overlooked was a gutsy pitching performance from Mandy Bond. Although she had little help behind her times, she still had Prairie Grove in position for the victory. "She's all heart," he said. "She's everything that you could ask for in a pitcher. She's a Bulldog and will throw until she can't throw any more. She didn't get help out there, but then again we scored seven runs in one inning."
The Lady Tigers (10-9 ) sent 12 batters to the plate in its second. A Judi Nichols single scored a pair of runs. Kaylin Kirkman, Toni Witherspoon, Bond and Elysia Clement each had singles.
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