FARMINGTON -- Farmington suffered a heartbreaking 5A State tournament loss Thursday with Paragould defeating the Lady Cardinals 2-1.
The loss sent Farmington (23-9) home as they were eliminated from the Class 5A State Tournament at Sylvan Hills.
Runs were hard to come by for both teams in a pitcher's duel. Paige Devecsery (16-3) started in the chalked circle for the Lady Cardinals and took the loss. In five innings, Devecsery yielded just 2 runs on 3 hits with 5 strike-outs.
Ariel Young earned the win for Paragould. She went the distance, pitching all 7 innings, allowing 1 run on 8 hits, while striking out 2 Farmington batters and issuing 1 walk.
"Their little pitcher, she threw a little curveball that was hard for us to hit, kept us off-balance," said Farmington coach Randy Osnes. "We couldn't string any hits together. In that situation, at that level, you need base hits, we were unable to do that."
Farmington took the first lead of the game at 1-0 as Brandy Wallace (2-for-3 with a double) scored in the top of the fourth when Carley Antwine (2-for-3 with a double) drove her in. Paragould rallied to tie the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the inning. Cheyanne Hall made a key play for Paragould with an RBI single that came with two outs in the fourth. The score remained tied until the bottom of the sixth with Paragould batting. Macy Carter singled off of Farmington reliever McKenzi Bogan to drive in what turned out to be the winning run.
Farmington had one chance to answer but couldn't push across a run necessary to extend the game. The loss was disappointing for the 5A West Conference champions, who went unbeaten in league play during the regular season compiling a 12-0 mark, but were upended in the 5A West Conference tournament semifinals, 3-1, by Vilonia. They rebounded to defeat Alma, 7-0, but still came into the state tournament as a No. 3 seed. Paragould entered as a No. 2 seed.
Bogan threw one inning in relief for Farmington. The freshman was not charged with any runs, on the 2 hits she allowed. She had a pair of strike-outs and no walks. Bogan and Devecsery combined for 7 strike-outs.
The Lady Cardinals had 8 hits in 27 at-bats. Osnes said portions of the lineup didn't produce hits, which, during state tournament play, is something opponents will exploit by getting outs on ground-balls and pop-ups. He said a key to advancing at state is to have consistent hitting throughout the lineup.
Despite the loss, Osnes praised the team for their accomplishments. The season also saw Osnes record his 500th win as head coach in a 5-4 win at Conway April 1.
"We had a great year with great kids, our three seniors we had (Anna Bennett, Callie Harper, Wallace), pretty much led us in all our offensive categories," Osnes said. "The group of kids we have coming back, they have experience now. We're looking forward to what we can do next year."
Sports on 05/17/2017