Guy, St. Joseph fall in regionals
NORTH LITTLE ROCK -- A similar ailment spelled defeat Saturday for both Guy-Perkins and St. Joseph in girls Class A softball regional play.
They failed to hit against strong pitching.
St. Joseph fell in the quarterfinals by 3-2 to Woodlawn's Lady Bears. Guy-Perkins nipped Palestine-Wheatley by 5-4 in the quarterfinals but dropped a 6-1 decision in the semifinals to Gillett.
The losses closed the season for both teams.
Guy opened both games by giving up a passel of runs. Against Palestine-Wheatley, the Lady Thunderbirds were able to bounce back in the late innings. But Gillett's Lady Wolves gave Guy nothing with which to build momentum.
Gillett thumped the Lady T-Birds for four runs in the first inning and two in the second. Then pitcher Heather Baker shut out Gillett the rest of the way.
After backup pitcher Hannah Hackney went the first two innings for Gillett, ace thrower Jona Howell came in and pitched the last five frames.
She was tagged for a run in the fourth inning when Holly Ross and A.J. Federico singled, advanced on Lora Stephens' infield out then Ross scored on a wild pitch.
Howell was in control the rest of the way, backed by effective defense. She walked Morgan Poole and Ashley Hutchcraft to start the seventh inning then got three batters on a pop fly, a ground out and a fly to the outfield to end the game.
Guy coach John Hutchcraft said, "We didn't get the hits this time, but we didn't strike out much either. It was just a good game, and we came out on the short end."
Gillett tagged the Guy girls for 10 hits, including a pair of doubles. Guy had five singles -- by Storme Stewart, Marty, Stephens, Ross and Federico.
The Lady T-Birds closed their year at 12-3.
In the earlier win, after Palestine-Wheatley jumped ahead with four runs in the first inning, Baker was in control on the pitching mound for Guy. She struck out nine batters.
The Lady Thunderbirds threatened several times then punched in three runs in the fifth inning and two more in the sixth.
MeriJo Marty drove in two runs and had three singles for the game. Federico also has three singles and a run batted in. Ross drove in the other Lady T-Bird run with a single. Stewart and Elana Ealy each had a pair of singles, and Baker singled for the other Guy hit.
St. Joseph couldn't get a hit off the Lady Bears, but the Lady Bulldogs got Kelly Turner and Lauren Paladino on base in the top of the sixth inning, and both scored with some nifty base running to tie the game at 2-all.
Woodlawn had a walk and single to start the seventh. The runners advanced then one was thrown out at home on an infield play. Another walk loaded the bases, and an infield grounder let the lead runner score ahead of a Lady Bulldog throw to home.