Lady Cardinals Earn Split With Bryant

Larkin Has Solid Outings On The Mound...

FARMINGTON -- After dropping the first game 13-3, Farmington rallied to beat Bryant, 3-2, in the second game of a doubleheader to earn a split on Saturday.

Bryant did their damage early, then held on. Bryant scored two runs in the first inning, then exploded for 11 runs in the top of the second inning.

After coming on in relief Brooke Larkin didn't allow any runs beyond that but Farmington's bid to extend the game came up short with runners left on base and a 10-run deficit at the conclusion of the fifth inning taking a 13-3 loss.

Paige Purifoy's leadoff double in the bottom of the second was nullified when she was caught in a rundown between third and home before Lindsey Blackburn scored a run on an illegal pitch by Bryant starter, Abby Staton, who got out of the inning after giving up the run by inducing a pop-up she fielded from the mound. Farmington loaded the bases in the third inning but couldn't score.

Lindsey Blackburn led off with a single into right field in the bottom of the fourth inning and advanced to second but was left stranded there. In their last chance to extend the game, Farmington scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Oakley Sisemore and Sarah Beth Jones hit back-to-back singles and scored on Brooke Larkin's two-run double. Still, the Lady Cardinals could not trim the margin under 10 runs and lost 13-3.

"We made some mental mistakes with runners on base and they capitalized and that's what a good team does," said Farmington coach Randy Osnes.

"Today we just weren't ready and we weren't focused," said Farmington junior Bethany Doty, who sat out game one after coming back from being sick.

"Next game, we'll definitely be confident and ready to come out there and hit them hard," Doty said, and the Lady Cardinals delivered edging Bryant, 3-2, in the second game.

Larkin started game two of the doubleheader and was just as stingy as she had been in relief in game one. Larkin scattered seven hits over seven innings with no earned runs with two strikeouts and one walk.

Lindsey Blackburn provided a spark offensively by scoring after hitting a double in the second inning. Larkin drove in the final Farmington run to take the lead with a groundout in the fifth inning, then made the lead hold up from the mound.

The Lady Cardinals are now 8-4, overall, and 1-0 in conference play. After taking on U.S. 62 rival, Prairie Grove, in a rescheduled game on Tuesday, Farmington hosts Gravette on Thursday at 5 p.m.

Sports on 04/09/2014