The Greenwood Lady Bulldogs finally lost a conference game this season, but not before cinching the 5A West title and earning a #1 seed in the state tournament beginning Thursday in Mountain Home. Ironically, Mountain Home was the visiting team on April 20th when the GHS girls wrapped up their league championship with a pair of shutout wins, 12-0 and 15-0 over the Lady Bombers.
Head Coach Ronnie Sockey and his GHS girls will play at McClain Park on Thursday morning at 10 a.m. against Lake Hamilton, the #4 seed from the 5A South. The Lady Bulldogs are expected to win that game to move on to the quarterfinals on Friday against the winner between Marion and Sylvan Hills. The semifinals are set for Saturday. Should they reach the state championship game, it will be played at Benton High School the following weekend.
Greenwood is paired with Sheridan on the bottom half of the bracket, potentially setting up a semifinal rematch between the two schools who have become intense softball rivals over the past several years. The Lady Yellowjackets have won four consecutive state titles, last losing to Greenwood in 2015 when the Lady Bulldogs won their only fast-pitch state crown.
Head Coach Ronnie Sockey, now in his ninth season with the Lady Bulldogs, talked briefly about his team’s priorities and focus as they enter the post-season scramble. “We open with Lake Hamilton from the South conference. They have a record of 8-8, but I don’t know a lot about them.
“We shouldn’t see any big-time strikeout pitchers or anyone who has been dominate all year, according to the stats. So our success this week will depend on our pitching and defense. We need to be playing our best defense of the season. Our hitting has been steady all [year],” added the coach.
Mountain Home
Ahead of the Lady Bombers by two games with four remaining to play on the league schedule, the Lady Bulldogs took care of business at home on April 20th, handing the visitors a doubleheader loss by a combined 27-0 score. Three GHS pitchers allowed just seven hits across 8½ innings. Greenwood bats pounded out a total of 22 hits.
In the opener, senior starter Haven Clements notched another win with four stellar innings of work, allowing five hits, one walk, and no runs with four strikeouts. Her teammates played flawless defense behind her and scored runs in all but the first inning. The Lady Bulldogs plated one run in the second inning, eight runs in the third, and three more in the fourth in the 12-0 win.
Greenwood bats produced seven extra-base hits, including four doubles and three homeruns. Chelsi Possage, Madi Cartwright, Claire Chapple, and Charlize Taylor all had two hits each. Cartwright and Chapple had three RBIs each while Macey Cutsinger drove home two. The homers came off the bats of Cartwright, Chapple, and Taylor.
In game two, with the conference crown within reach, the Lady Bulldogs out-hit the Lady Bombers 10-2, and put up crooked numbers in the scoring column in all four of their team at bats. The game was called with one out in the fourth inning after Greenwood sent seven batters (five hits) to the dish and made the score 15-0. Tori Howard pitched all four frames for the home team with six strikeouts, allowing just two hits in the shutout win.
With the sticks, the Lady Bulldogs got multiple hits from Madi Cartwright, a two-run double in the second inning and a three-run homer in the fourth. She also had five RBIs and scored three runs to lead the team. Senior Kinley Fisher also had a double and two RBIs while Ireland Cooper, Chelsi Possage, Natalie Thomas, and Natalee Horn scored two runs each.
Alma
Having already secured the conference crown, the Lady Bulldogs went to Alma on April 27th for their league finale, hoping to finish the 5A West schedule unbeaten, but it wasn’t to be. The Lady Airedales got a terrific pitching performance in the opener and defeated Greenwood, 4-2, before the Lady Bulldogs rallied to win the nightcap, 10-0.
Haven Clements pitched six innings, allowing eight hits, three walks, and three earned runs, taking the loss for Greenwood. Alma scored a single run in the first inning on a hit and sacrifice fly, then three more in the third on three singles and a pair of walks. The Lady Bulldogs plated their two runs in the fifth on four hits and a walk.
Haven Clements and Chelsi Possage had two hits each, while Clements and Ally Sockey had one RBI each. Sockey’s knock was a double, the only extra-base hit for Greenwood. Alma’s winning pitcher, junior Makenzie Martin, went the distance for her team, giving just two runs on eight hits, striking out two and walking one in the victory.
But the nightcap was a different matter, with Greenwood smacking nine hits and taking advantage of four Alma errors for a 10-0 win in five innings. Only four of those runs were earned. Tori Howard threw all five innings for the GHS victory, giving no runs on four hits, striking out four Alma batters and yielding just one base-on-balls.
The Lady Bulldogs scored twice in the opening frame before adding single runs in the third and fourth. But a six-run outburst in the top of the fifth put the game away. The game was called after five innings due to the mercy rule. Greenwood got a homerun from Madi Cartwright and a double from Chelsi Possage among their nine hits.
Possage was the GHS hits leader with two singles and the double, scoring three runs. An Oklahoma transfer who missed her junior season due to Covid-19, the senior with join teammate Ally Sockey in playing for the Lady Razorbacks next season.
Six other Greenwood players had a hit, while Haven Clements and Natalie Thomas both had two RBIs. Madi Cartwright’s homer came with two runners on for three RBIs. Ally Sockey and Charlize Taylor both scored two runs.
Bentonville-West
Their conference schedule complete, the league champion Lady Bulldogs then turned their attention to staying sharp and preparing for the upcoming post-season. Their next three opponents were all Class 6A teams from Northwest Arkansas, starting with the Lady Wolverines of Bentonville-West. Haven Clements then pitched a 1-0 shutout winner on April 30th.
Clements went the distance for the home team, yielding four hits and two walks over seven scoreless innings. The game itself was scoreless through 4½ innings before a walk to Charlize Taylor and a double by Macey Cutsinger plated the only run of the contest. The visiting starter was perfect through 3.2 innings before Greenwood’s Natalie Thomas broke the ice with a single. The GHS girls had only three hits in the game and both teams played errorless defense.
Springdale Har-Ber
The GHS bats came alive five days later on May 5th with 23 hits and 20 runs in a 20-4 rout over the Lady Wildcats. Due to the mercy rule, the game was called after the visitors batted in the fifth. Tori Howard started in the circle for the home team and pitched three innings of no-hit ball. Haven Clements and Madelynn Cassat both pitched an inning in relief.
The Lady Bulldogs wasted little time taking charge with five runs in the first inning, six in the second, and nine more in the third inning. On the mound, Clements gave up three runs in the fourth to Har-Ber and Cassat gave up a solo run in the top of the fifth. On defense, Springdale made three errors and Greenwood one.
Eight GHS hitters had multiple hits in the game, including Kinley Fisher, Macey Cutsinger, and Natalie Thomas with three knocks each. Thomas (5) also led in RBIs for the day, while Cutsinger had three, as did Madi Cartwright and Claire Chapple. Thomas had a homer while Cutsinger had two doubles, one of seven two-baggers on the day for Greenwood.
Bentonville
Last Thursday, May 6th, the Lady Bulldogs traveled to Bentonville to take on the Lady Tigers, but ran into a buzzsaw, losing 12-2 in five innings. The home team got excellent starting pitching and out-hit the visitors 11-3. GHS starter Haven Clements was touched up for ten Bentonville runs, including eight in the first inning and two more in the third. She was relieved in the fourth by Madelynn Cassat, who gave up two runs in the fifth before the game was halted.
Clements couldn’t find the strike zone in the first, walking the first four hitters she faced before three consecutive singles followed by a triple and two doubles with two outs. Trailing 8-0, Greenwood plated its only two runs in the second with the help of a leadoff error. Macey Cutsinger followed with a single and both runners later scored on another error.