The Greenwood Lady Bulldogs reached the quarterfinals of the 5A state softball playoffs last week before concluding their season with a loss to the defending state champion Benton Lady Panthers. The #2 seed from the 5A West, the GHS girls defeated Marion last Thursday before facing Benton on Friday. The Farmington Lady Cardinals, the #1 seed from the 5A West will play Benton for the state championship next week. Both Siloam Springs and Mountain Home from the 5A West lost in the first round.
Greenwood vs. Marion
Thursday’s contest against the Lady Patriots, the #3 seed from the 5A East, was played in Paragould at Greene County Tech High School. GHS starter Alyssa Lovell pitched all seven innings, dueling two Marion hurlers, with the game still scoreless into the third inning. The Lady Bulldogs finally broke the ice in the bottom of the third with two runs, adding two more in the fourth.
Leading 4-0, Lovell gave up a pair of runs in the top of the sixth, cutting the GHS lead in half, but only temporarily. Greenwood bats went back to work in the bottom of the sixth inning, adding two more tallies. Marion scored once in the top of the seventh, but their comeback attempt fell short as Lovell stranded two runners when she coaxed a groundout to shortstop to end the threat.
Both teams mustered six hits each, with Ava Cranor notching two hits for the Lady Bulldogs. Lakyn Dawson, Emmerson Israel, Taelyn Martin, and Mallory Steele all had solo knocks. Daisy Parker, Alyssa Lovell, and Steele (2) all had RBIs. Steele also had the team’s only extra base hit, a double. Lovell and Parker both had sacrifice flies to drive in runs.
Greenwood received five walks in the game and Marion made one error, leading to one GHS unearned run. The Lady Bulldogs made two fielding errors in the game, but those miscues did not affect the scoring. Alyssa Lovell issued just one walk and had three strikeouts in earning the pitching victory for Greenwood.
Greenwood vs. Benton
Friday’s second-round contest against Benton wasn’t really much of a contest from Greenwood’s perspective. Lady Panthers’ starting pitcher Rexie Crane went the distance and limited the Lady Bulldogs to just two hits, both singles, and gave no walks, severely limiting any opportunities to score. Jordyn Floyd toed the rubber in the circle for Greenwood, also going the distance, allowing 12 hits and four runs, working in and out of trouble over six frames of work. Benton scored twice in the first and twice more in the fifth to put the game away.
The two hits for the Lady Bulldogs came off the bats of Lakyn Dawson and Ava Cranor. Both hits occurred in the same inning, the top of the fifth, giving Greenwood its only real chance to score, but with two outs before a groundout ended the frame. Benton’s Crane struck out the last six GHS hitters she faced in the sixth and seventh innings, giving her 16 total Ks in the game.
Looking Ahead
As for next season, a substantial portion of this year’s roster will return for Head Coach Donald Hart, with only four seniors graduating this past Friday. Those players included Lakyn Dawson, Alyssa Lovell, Daisy Parker, and Miley Schwartz, the first three of those being starters. Junior starters Emily Creason and Taelyn Martin also return with a large group of younger players coming back more experienced and physically stronger. They include sophomore pitchers Makayla Bachert, Sienna Wells, and Jordyn Floyd, plus infielder Ava Cranor, also a 10th grader. Promising freshmen Mallory Steele, Lettie Brownfield, Emmerson Israel, and others also return.
The 2026 Lady Bulldogs fell one game short of 20 victories this season, finishing at 19-10 overall, second in the 5A West behind Farmington. Two of those losses were to Class 6A Bentonville, which is playing for the state championship next week against Springdale Har-Ber. Two more GHS losses were to the defending 5A state champion Benton Lady Panthers, also playing for another state title next week. So, the Lady Bulldogs have no reason to hang their heads, and better things lie ahead for them in 2027 and beyond.