When Ronnie Sockey left Oklahoma to become to Head Coach of the Greenwood Lady Bulldogs’ softball program a couple of years ago, his goal was to build a perennial winner and take the GHS girls to the promised land by winning a state title. After making significant progress last spring, Sockey has his team primed and ready for a deep run in the post-season starting this week in Marion.
After winning the 7A/6A Central conference and earning the top seed in the 6A Central, the Lady Bulldogs will enjoy a first-round bye in the state tournament before facing the winner of the contest between Searcy (East-3) and the Lake Hamilton (South-4). Greenwood’s first game will be Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. The two semi-final games will be on Saturday, with the two survivors meeting in the state title game on May 23rd on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
At Bryant
The Lady Bulldogs had already secured their post-season berth when they traveled to Bryant last Friday for a doubleheader to end the regular season. But the Lady Hornets were unbeaten in 7A/6A Central play, requiring Greenwood to sweep both games to earn the league title, which is precisely what they did.
Greenwood won game one behind another strong pitching effort by Victoria Taylor, who fanned 15 Bryant hitters in the 2-0 victory. Game two was a 14-2 shellacking as the Lady Bulldogs pounded out a season-high 20 hits to secure the overall conference championship.
Against Bryant’s best pitcher, the GHS girls were shutout through the first four innings of the opener before scoring both of their runs in the top of the fifth. Devyn Gregory had two of Greenwood’s six total hits, and Kelsey Knox was credited with one of the two runs batted in.
In game two, the visitors poured it on early with five runs in the top of the first inning. They added two more in the second and fourth innings, before capping their offensive explosion with five more runs in their final at bat. The game was called after six innings because of Greenwood’s 12-run lead.
Starting pitcher Kaila Cartwright went five innings for the Lady Bulldogs to earn the victory, giving way to Taylor who closed out the game with one scoreless inning. The two hurlers combined to limit the Lady Hornets to just four hits in the contest, striking out a total of seven Bryant hitters.
Offensively, Phoebe Ulmer, Sydnie Henson, and Syndey Parker all had three hits each. Ulmer had a spectacular game with the bat, driving home six runners. Parker also had a pair of RBIs and Kelsey Knox added another.
Alma at Greenwood
Last Tuesday, May 5th, the Lady Airedales came to Greenwood and suffered a 4-1 loss in 7A/6A Central conference play. But more importantly, it was the last of the six Class 6A games on the league schedule that determined the rankings for the post-season tournament.
Victoria Taylor was the starting pitcher for Greenwood, and turned in another masterful performance, holding Alma to just one run on two hits. She also fanned 12 Airedalettes.
The Lady Bulldogs scored a single run in the first inning, but added three more in the third. Alma’s only tally came in the second inning, temporarily tying the score at 1-1. Greenwood had eight total hits, led by Phoebe Ulmer with three hits, including a pair of doubles. Sydney Parker had two hits for the Lady Bulldogs, while Ulmer, Parker, and Madison Jewell were all credited with RBIs in the contest.
Sockey speaks
Prior to last week’s games, Coach Sockey sized up his team’s home stretch and looked ahead to the playoffs, which begin this week. “We are going into our final week of the regular season with three conference games left to play. We have a big game against Alma that will determine the #1 seed out of the 6A Central. We beat them 1-0 at their place earlier in the season.
“Then we finish on the road at Bryant, which is the only unbeaten team in the Central conference. If we can beat them twice, we will win the 6A/7A Central, which would be a huge momentum builder for the state tournament. We had a great run last week, winning all three games over Farmington, Siloam Springs, and Rogers, which is one of the top teams in 7A,” he added.
“We are really starting to put it all together [offensively] to go along with our defense that has been really good of late. It’s been a great team effort to get to this point, and we just need to have a few more players step up on offense to provide us with some early runs to take pressure off our pitching and defense,” said the coach.
As for the upcoming post-season prospects, Sockey said the following: “We are very excited going into the state tournament this week. Winning the seven games in a row, and our hitting starting to peak at the right time gives our girls the confidence that we can go there to win it all this year. We had two big wins at Bryant to win the conference championship for the first time, and having won last Tuesday over Alma gave us the [top] seed for the state tournament.
“We will play the winner of Searcy-Lake Hamilton on Friday at 3:00 p.m. If we can win that one then we will more than likely play Benton, which is the one-seed from the South,” added the coach. “The girls have played in a lot of big games the last few years, and they are ready to take that next step to get us to the finals and bring home a state championship.” Greenwood hasn’t won a state softball title since 1998 during the days of slow-pitch play.
Other results
On Saturday, May 2nd, the GHS girls hit the road and beat Rogers 3-0. Victoria Taylor dominated the Lady Mounties, striking out 14 batters while limiting the home team to just two hits.
Greenwood was held to just three runs on five hits, scoring single tallies in the first, second, and sixth innings. Madison Jewell led the team with two hits and had an RBI. Abbey Lejong and Tatum Holland also drove home one run each.
On April 27th the GHS girls hosted the Lady Cardinals of Farmington and got another shutout from Victoria Taylor, winning 5-0. Taylor had 13 strikeouts and gave up just two hits in the win.
At the plate, the Lady Bulldogs reached double digits in hits (11) and finally broke through with two runs in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth. Syndey Parker led the way with three hits, while Phoebe Ulmer and Mikayleigh Davis had two hits each. Davis, Ulmer, and Tatum Holland all had RBIs.
The Lady Bulldogs defeated the Russellville Lady Cyclones on April 23rd by a score of 7-1 behind 18 strikeouts from starting pitcher Victoria Taylor. Only seven opposing hitters were able to put the ball into play against Taylor, who gave up three hits. Her defense accounted for three outs behind her and committed one error.
The Lady ‘Dogs scored twice in the first and third innings before adding a solo run in the sixth and two runs in the seventh. Russellville scored its only run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Greenwood also had 13 hits in the game, led by Tatum Holland with three hits. Abbey Lejong and Phoebe Ulmer had two hits each, while Ulmer and Syndey Parker had two RBIs each.