FARMINGTON -- Madison Parrish has wheels and she knows how to use them.
The Farmington junior led off the bottom of the third inning of Farmington's 12-0 win over Mena Friday with what initially appeared to be an in-the-park home run. She belted an 0-1 pitch squeezing the ball between Mena's surprised third baseman, who had her right foot on the bag and the foul line. The sharply-hit ball stayed fair traveling all the way to the left corner before bouncing off the wall and eluding a pursuing outfielder.
Meanwhile Parrish was cooking it.
In a flash she rounded second and easily made third. Mena suffered a misconnection on the relay once the outfield tracked the ball down and Parrish made them pay. She raced toward seventh heaven scoring Farmington's seventh run.
Farmington coach Randy Osnes said he scored the feat as a triple with an error on the throw.
"Madison Parrish can run a little bit," Osnes said. "She took advantage of the situation."
That triggered an inning full of highlight reels for the Lady Cardinals on their way to a second 6-run inning and a win to advance in the Farmington Invitational Softball tournament which they host this year without the aid of Fayetteville.
Paige Anderson followed that up by hammering a stand-up double off the center field wall. She stole third, then stole home with Shayley Treat batting. With two outs, Carley Antwine, who was 3-for-3, singled to get aboard. Antwine was plated by Kally Stout's flyball which landed in left field.
Paige Devecsery walked to give Farmington a second base runner. Alyssa Reed reached second on an error as 2 runs scored. Camryn Journagan drove in the final run for a 12-0 Farmington lead.
Devecsery retired Mena batters in order to complete a 1-hit game that featured 5 strikeouts with no walks.
The Farmington Invitational Softball tournament opened with a bang for the host team.
The Lady Cardinals scored 6 runs in the first inning sparked by the bat of Devecsery, who smashed a 2-run double to start the scoring. Antwine capped off the 6-run inning with a double that brought in 2 more runs for a 6-0 Farmington lead.
Autumn Powell took the loss for Mena, allowing 12 runs on 9 hits striking out one in three innings.
"Both teams played really good," Osnes said. "They (Mena) rode the bus four hours. That makes a difference. We pitched strikes. Paige Devecsery pitched a great ball game."
Osnes praised the defense and work ethic of the Lady Cardinals, noting catcher Alyssa Reed demonstrated her agility lunging forward to snare a pop-up.
Reed didn't have time to remove her mask and said she reacted instinctively to make the catch.
"It was about to touch and I wanted the out," Reed said.
"Alyssa Reed made a great play on the plate right in front of her, our shortstop made great plays," Osnes said. "Really it was all of them. That's the fourth game this week they've played. All of the girls worked really hard. I'm proud of them."
Sports on 03/21/2018