With two weeks left in their regular season, the Greenwood Lady Bulldogs softball team is on the cusp of earning a #1 or #2 playoff seed from the 5A West conference and competing for a state championship beginning May 15th at Benton. The GHS girls are currently locked in a battle with the Farmington Lady Cardinals for the top spot in the league standings with identical 10-1 records. The teams split their two head-to-head games this season, handing each other their only league loss with three conference games remaining. Greenwood has league games left with Siloam Springs, Russellville, and Mountain Home with non-conference games slated against Beebe, Rogers, and Lamar.
Since we last checked in on the Lady Bulldogs, they have gone 3-4 overall, one of those losses to Farmington and the others to non-conference teams such as Conway, Bentonville, and Maumelle. As the regular season winds down, the GHS ladies will play Beebe and Siloam Springs on Thursday and Friday this week, then face Russellville, Rogers, Mountain Home, and Lamar over the final two weeks of the season. Both conference games against Russellville and Mountain Home will be at home.
Van Buren
On Tuesday, April 15th, the Lady Bulldogs traveled across the Arkansas River to Crawford County to take on conference foe Van Buren, defeating the Lady Pointers in extra innings, 6-5. The visitors jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three innings and appeared to be cruising until the home team tied the score with two runs in both the sixth and seventh innings, forcing the extra frame. But Greenwood scored twice in the top of the eighth and held Van Buren to just one run in the bottom half for the win.
Alyssa Lovell (5.2 innings) and Makayla Bachert (2.1) did the pitching for Greenwood, giving up 10 hits, two walks, and four earned runs. The GHS defense made three defensive errors that led to three additional baserunners and an unearned run in the eighth inning. Greenwood hurlers struck out only one Van Buren hitter. They threw 70 strikes and 47 balls.
At the plate, GHS hitters were led by Piper Pitts with four hits and Daisy Parker with two knocks. Pitts had three singles, a double, and two runs batted in. Parker had two singles, an RBI, and scored three runs. Taelyn Martin had a single and two RBIs. Emily Creason had the only other hit for Greenwood.
Conway
The next day the Lady Bulldogs boarded another bus, this one bound for Central Arkansas to take on the Lady Wampus Cats of Class 6A Conway. But a three-run first inning by the hometown girls proved too much for Greenwood to overcome, dropping the non-conference contest, 5-2. After pitching in relief a day earlier, Makayla Bachert toed the rubber in the circle against Conway, going the distance while throwing 111 pitches. She allowed five hits, six walks, and three earned runs. The GHS defense made two costly errors behind her.
The Lady Bulldogs were held scoreless until the fifth inning when they plated two runs to narrow the gap to 3-2. But Conway responded with two more tallies in the bottom half of the frame to secure the win. Greenwood had just four hits, one each by Emmy Burton, Daisy Parker, Piper Pitts, and Emily Creason, all singles. Burton had an RBI as did Saylor Hart. Eight Lady Bulldogs struck out in the contest.
Harrison
Two days later, on Friday, April 18th, Greenwood returned to conference play, hosting the Lady Goblins of Harrison, winning handily in three innings, 15-0. A nine-run first inning got the festivities started for the home team before they added three more runs in both the second and third innings before the game was called due to the sportsmanship rule. Alyssa Lovell filled the circle for Greenwood and picked up the win, allowing no hits, walks, or runs in three innings of work. She struck out the side in the first frame and retired all nine hitters she faced in the game with seven totals Ks.
The Lady Bulldogs banged out 11 hits with four players getting multiple knocks, led by Lovell with three hits, including two doubles, and four RBIs. Emmy Burton, Piper Pitts, and Rylee Floyd had two hits each with Burton driving home five runs and scoring two more. Pitts and Floyd both had solo RBIs. Floyd’s hit was a double and she scored twice along with teammates Brilea Rofkahr, Saylor Hart, Taelyn Martin, and Annie Been.
Bentonville
But what goes around comes around, so they say, and the Lady Bulldogs got a taste of their own medicine the following Monday, April 21st, against Class 6A Bentonville, losing 18-0 in five innings. Three GHS hurlers proved unable to slow the bats of the Lady Tigers, who banged out 20 hits, scoring once in the first inning, seven times in the second, and ten times in the fifth for the lopsided victory. Greenwood had only three hits and never found any offensive traction in the game.
GHS pitchers Jordyn Floyd (2.1 innings), Sienna Wells (2.0), and Makayla Bachert (1.0) were victimized by Bentonville hitters while the Greenwood defense made two errors that led to a pair of unearned runs. Lady Bulldogs’ pitchers also issued six walks in the game, aiding the already potent Bentonville offensive attack.
Alma
The trend of lopsided games continued for a third straight outing, this time against the visiting Lady Airedales of Alma, another 15-0 GHS victory in three innings, adding to their 5A West conference win total. The Lady Bulldogs scored twice in their first at bat, four times in the second inning, and nine times in the third to put the game away in walk-off fashion. Alyssa Lovell held the visitors to just one hit and no runs. Greenwood had 14 hits and took advantage of five Alma errors for five unearned runs.
A quartet of GHS batters had multiple hits. Brilea Rofkahr and Piper Pitts had three hits each while Lakyn Dawson and Saylor Hart had two hits each. Four others had solo hits – Emmy Burton, Daisy Parker, Emily Creason, and Rylee Floyd. Dawson had the only extra-base hit for Greenwood, a double, and drove home a pair of runs. Rofkahr was the RBI leader for Greenwood with three runs driven home, followed by Pitts, Dawson, and Hart with two RBIs each. Parker and Floyd had solo RBIs.
Farmington
Last Friday, April 25th, Greenwood traveled to Farmington holding a slim one-game lead in the conference race, just ahead of the Lady Cardinals, who lost their first meeting with Greenwood back on March 20th. But the 5A West newcomers balanced the scale the second time around, beating the Lady Bulldogs 10-1 in seven innings. The home team scored twice in the third inning, six times in the fifth, and twice more in the sixth inning. Farmington out-hit Greenwood, 10-to-2.
Alyssa Lovell (4.0 innings) and Makayla Bachert (2.0) did the pitching for the visitors and combined to allow six earned runs with three walks and just two strikeouts. A single GHS error allowed four unearned runs to cross the plate for Farmington. At the dish, the Lady Bulldogs had just two hits, scoring their lone run in the third inning. Saylor Hart had both of those hits while Daisy Parker accounted for the only GHS run batted in, scored by Emmy Burton.
Maumelle
This past Monday, April 28th, the Lady Hornets of Maumelle High School of Pulaski County came calling, returning home with a 7-6 victory over the Greenwood girls, who rallied for three runs in the seventh, leaving the tying run stranded when the final out was made. The Lady Bulldogs led 2-1 after one inning but trailed 5-2 after the visitors scored four times in the top of the third. Another Maumelle run in the fourth made it 6-2 before Greenwood scored again in the fifth. The visitors added their final tally in the sixth before the home team rallied in the last at-bat, aided by a pair of walks and a Maumelle error to go along with a pair of singles.
Sienna Wells (4.0 innings) and Jordyn Floyd (2.0) did the pitching for Greenwood, allowing six earned runs on 10 Maumelle hits. The Lady Hornets also used two hurlers who limited GHS bats to six hits, giving four walks and allowing just two earned runs. Both teams made two fielding errors.
Only Emmy Burton had a multi-hit game for Greenwood with two knocks, both singles, with an RBI and a run scored. Isabella Meyers, Saylor Hart, Piper Pitts, and Emily Creason had solo hits with Meyers picking up an RBI along with Rylee Floyd. Taelyn Martin scored twice for Greenwood in the non-conference loss, the Lady Bulldogs’ fourth in their last six games. They hope to return to their winning ways against Beebe on Thursday and Siloam Springs on Friday.