FARMINGTON -- Coming into the 2014 softball season Farmington coach Randy Osnes had a dilemma, how to distinguish between athletes with similar names out for the sport.
Farmington began the season with a trio of girls with the first name of Brooke on the squad. Besides senior Brooke Larkin there were junior infielder Brooke D. Smith and sophomore pitcher Brooke A. Smith and Osnes regularly had to distinguish between the three.
"He calls me 'Larkin.' The junior Brooke Smith, she's 'Little Smith' cause her sister [2014 Farmington grad Jordin Smith] used to play with us. The sophomore Brooke Smith he calls her 'BR.' That's how he separates us," Larkin explained.
Brooke D. Smith worked her way into the starting lineup at third base and hit a pair of home runs on the same day of the Farmington/Fayetteville tournament in March before her season was short-circuited with an injury. Meanwhile, Larkin was having an outstanding senior campaign. In 31 games she appeared in as a senior, Larkin's bat produced 29 RBIs while she scored 25 runs and struck out only four times and was charged with very few errors.
Yet, the goodness of the clubhouse camaraderie came to an end. With a somber ring of finality came the third Farmington out in the seventh inning to conclude a 5-3 loss to White Hall in State 5A softball play on Thursday. The sting of the loss was that Farmington (19-12, 10-4 5A West) led 3-2 going into the bottom of the sixth when White Hall, defending State 5A softball champion, pushed across 3 runs to take the lead at Kimery Park in Hot Springs. Bulldog starting pitcher Lauren Graves was stingy, yielding only 3 runs with 5 strikeouts and a pair of walks through seven innings. Farmington senior Mackenzie Sill was charged with the loss after allowing 5 runs in 6 innings and finished with a season record of 13-8.
"It was a great game and Mackenzie Sill pitched a great game," Osnes said. "We stranded kids at second and third in the fouth and bases loaded in the fifth. That would come back to haunt us late. White Hall advances and we hang it up."
Graves had trouble with Larkin, whose bat has been a thorn in the side of virtually every pitcher she has faced as a senior. The second baseman, who came into the tourney batting .474, again proved to be a tough out helping Farmington, seeded third out of the West, grab a 1-0 first inning lead. Larkin singled to get aboard and moved into scoring position on Brandy Wallace's single. Larkin would drive in a run on a single in the third and added one more RBI with another single in the fourth before the Bulldogs' rally in the sixth on the strength of two singles.
"The most interesting thing about me is I'm the quiet one, sort of," Larkin said, then describing how she utilized a spontaneous
Sports on 05/20/2015