Prairie Grove Lady Tiger's softball squad has endured some ups and downs through a good portion of their 2014 season. However, with four consecutive conference victories the Tigers find themselves in a 3-way tie atop the 4A-1 standings.
Two of those conference wins came last week when Prairie Grove defeated the Pea Ridge Blackhawks 10-8 in an exciting 10 inning slugfest, held at Pea Ridge on April 15. The Tigers racked up another road win when they dispatched the Gentry Pioneers 7-0 in a contest played April 17.
"Wow. What a game," is how Tiger's coach Dustin Beck described his teams extra inning victory over the Pea Ridge Blackhawks.
The Tigers held an early 3-0 lead, but trailed the Hawks 4-3 in the seventh inning. Prairie Grove tied the game 4-4 and took two-run leads in the eighth and ninth frames. However, every two run lead that the Tigers forged was matched by an equal amount of runs by Pea Ridge in their portion of those frames. In the 10th inning, the Tigers got a two-run home run from Madison Skelton, then shut down the Blackhawks in the bottom of the 10th to earn the victory.
Anna Kidd and Valarie Shepherd doubled and singled in the first inning respectively. Kidd would cross the plate on a Brooke Ketzler's groundout, while Shepherd made her way home on a misplayed ball hit by Madison Cluck. A Pea Ridge error in the third stanza allowed Ketzler to score which put the Tigers up 3-0.
The Blackhawks seized the lead with 4 runs in the fourth inning. They carried that lead until two outs in the seventh frame. Down to their last out, the Tigers were given new life when Shepherd reached base on another Pea Ridge miscue. Madison Beaver was called on to pinch-run for Shepherd and promptly stole second base. Beaver eventually evened the score at 4-4 after crossing the dish following yet another Blackhawk error.
Prairie Grove went up 6-4 in the top of the eighth inning after Allison Skelton's tripled home Cluck, then was brought home on her sister Madison's double to centerfield. However, in the bottom of the inning, Madison Skelton served up a two-run dinger that allowed the Blackhawks to even the score at 6-6.
Cluck belted an RBI double in the ninth inning, scoring Makenzie Brown, while Parker Lopez also made her way across the plate in the inning, bringing the score to 8-6. Again Pea Ridge answered with two runs, tying the score at 8-8.
In the 10th inning, Madison Skelton answered the two-run home run she gave up in the eighth inning with a two-run jack of her own, staking Prairie Grove to the 10-8 advantage. Madison then ended the drama by blanking Pea Ridge in their portion of the 10th stanza, which included striking out the last two Hawk hitters.
Prairie Grove had a little easier time against the Pioneers. The Tigers (9-6, 5-1) banged out 11 hits, while Madison Skelton scattered just two base knocks over seven innings while striking out four Pioneer batters.
"I think our girls showed a lot of character in the win over Pea Ridge, and I think that win gave us the confidence to come out as well as we did against Gentry," said coach Beck. "I really think things are starting to come together for us."
Camree Bartholomew (3 for 3, 2 RS) and Madison Skelton (3 for 3, 2 2 B's, 1 RBI) led the offensive charge with 3 hits each, followed by Shepherd and Allison Skelton with 2 hits apiece. Kidd, Ketzler and Cluck rounded out the hit parade with 1 hit each.
Sports on 04/23/2014