1-4 A Softball Regional : Lady Cards hold off Dardanelle to advance to regional finals
Posted on Tuesday, May 6, 2008
FARMINGTON - A game-ending outfield assist Monday in the 4 A Region 1 semifinal at Lady Cardinal Field preserved Farmington's 4-3 win over defending state champion Dardanelle and advanced it into today's 5 p.m. championship game against Clarksville.
Dardanelle scored one run in its last at-bat to whittle Farmington's lead to 4-3. With runners on first and second and two outs, Niki Possage's single to center field seemed designed to plate the tying run. That was until Lady Cardinal center fielder Lacy Kragel intervened, throwing out Brittany Battenfield at home to end the game.
"She fielded the ball, she gathered herself and threw a strike to the plate," said Randy Osnes, Farmington coach. "[Catcher ] Morgan [Clark ] did a good job fielding the ball and applying the tag."
Dardanelle (17-10 ) coach Greg Jones said Possage's single would've scored Battenfield if the previous hitter had executed the sacrifice bunt he called for. With a slap hitter following Possage, Jones said he decided to wave Battenfield home.
"We were just trying to be aggressive right there," Jones said. "The girl made a great throw and threw us out."
Shelby Culver's second home run in as many games staked Farmington (24-6 ) to a 3-0 lead after three innings. Culver drove the 1-2 offering over the center-field fence. The two-run shot was her sixth of the season.
"Culver's had a great two days," Osnes said. "She lost her swing there for a few days a week or so ago, but she's definitely found it now."
A Kala Crisp RBI groundout in the first inning and a Clark RBI single in the fourth accounted for the other two Lady Cardinal runs. Clark was the only player on either team to author a multi-hit game.
The four runs were in support of Farmington ace Skyler Smith. She pitched a complete game, allowing two earned runs on five hits and two walks. Smith struck out Dardanelle's first four hitters and faced one more than the minimum through four innings.
The nine balls she threw in the fifth almost equaled the 13 she threw in the first four innings. Her brief loss of command in the fifth helped Dardanelle's first three batters reach base, of which two scored. She regained control in time to end the threat with a strikeout sandwiched by two groundouts.
"Early she was throwing inside heat and a little curveball that was working very effectively, then all of sudden I don't know if the dish became round or what, but we weren't getting any corners there late," Osnes said. "We went back to some other pitches. She kept the ball down and in and threw a lot of ground balls for us."
Smith ended the day with eight strikeouts in 92 pitches, throwing 62 for strikes. Nine infield assists, led by third baseman Katy Chavis' four, aided her cause. Jones said Smith's facility for painting the inside corner kept the Lady Lizards tied up.
"We had seen her a couple of times and we knew she was going to work us in," Jones said. "I told the girls'we're going to have to be able to hit that pitch, she's going to come in there. '
"She's an aggressive pitcher. We never really hit her real hard. We hit her good enough to make a couple of balls go through the hole. She did a good job. She's a great pitcher."
Osnes will give Smith the ball again today against Clarksville (24-6 ). The Lady Panthers beat Farmington in last year's 4 A state semifinal. Clarksville 5 Waldron 2 Clarksville scored fours runs in its half of the ninth to outlast Waldron 5-2 in extra innings. Kelsey Meeks' two-RBI single and Brooke Hurley's RBI base knock supplied the ninth-inning offense.
Haley McCormick twirled a three-hit complete game for Clarksville, striking out 16. The Lady Panthers will play Farmington for the regional championship today at 5 p.m. Waldron (18-9 ) will play Dardanelle in the 3 p.m. consolation game.
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