Lady Pioneers take runner-up in 1-4 A conference tournament
Posted on Wednesday, April 30, 2008
GENTRY ó Solid offense, defense and pitching held the Lady Cardinals, who have been to the state tournament each of the past 10 years, beat host Gentry 7-1 in the 1-4 A Conference Tournament championship game Monday.
The win gives the Lady Cardinals (22-6 ) their 11 th straight conference tournament title and the top seed for this weekendís North Regional Tournament.
Both teams will be back in action ó along with Gravette and Prairie Grove ó at the regional, which starts Saturday at Farmington.
The Lady Cardinals will play the fourth seed ó likely Dover ó from the 4-4 A. The Lady Pioneers (13-9 ) will play the 4-4 Aís third seed, likely Clarksville.
The top four teams from the regional tournament advance to the state tournament, which starts May 9 at Nashville.
Junior ace Skyler Smith (19-5 ) was named the tournament MVP after picking up her second complete-game win of the tournament.
After giving up a solo home run to Gentry senior Katie Bowman in the first inning, Smith and the Farmington defense cruised.
ì After about the second inning, (Smith ) changed from just being a thrower to a pitcher, î Farmington coach Randy Osnes said. ì She didnít have her best stuff the first couple innings but she turned it on and started hitting her spots and making the ball move. î
She scattered 6 hits and struck out 6 in the win.
Except for an error in the third inning, the defense behind Smith held up. It made all the routine plays, and center fielder Lacey Kragel threw out two Gentry runners to erase singles.
Kragel caught Ayla Smartt trying to stretch a second-inning single into a double and threw out Smartt trying to reach third on Megan Meigsí seventh-inning single.
ì (Smarttís hit in the second ) is a double against 95 percent of the teams we play, î Gentry coach Marian Killgore said. ì I think you have to gamble in a game like this and be aggressive. (Kragel ) made a great play. It was a very good hit and a very good throw to get her. î
The third-inning error moved Gentryís Eryan Beck and Kelsey Duncan to second and third with two outs, but they were stranded as Smith got a strikeout to end the threat.
The Lady Cardinals quickly erased Gentryís early lead by getting 4 runs on 4 hits off starting pitcher Shimay Holt.
Senior Kelly Helton started the scoring with a bases-loaded single to score two.
ì Sheís a senior doing what a senior should do and sheís been doing it for us all season long, î Osnes said. ì We hope she continues doing that in the next tournament. î
Another run scored on a wild pitch and Teighlor Williams knocked in a run with a two-out bunt single for a 4-1 lead.
Kragel plated a run in the fourth with a single up the middle of Bowman, who took over pitching in the second inning.
Bowman, who scattered 5 hits and struck out 6, worked out of a jam in the fifth, but Farmington tacked on two runs in the sixth.
Katy Chavis scored from third on Kala Crispís sacrifice fly and Kragel came home on an error after Smartt tried to gun her down at third.
Kragel, Crisp and Helton were named to the All-Tournament Team for Farmington.
Smartt led the Lady Pioneers with 2 hits and was named to the All-Tournament Team along with Bowman and Duncan.
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