Ending his third season at Greenwood, Head Coach Donald Hart and his Lady Bulldogs softball team concluded another successful campaign with their recent appearance in the 5A state tournament held in Benton. The GHS girls finished their 2025 schedule with an impressive 22-8 overall record, going 13-1 in the 5A West conference to earn first place and the league’s top seed in the playoffs.
Unfortunately, a great regular season was tarnished by a 2-0 first round upset loss to Maumelle in the playoffs last Thursday. The Lady Bulldogs won five straight games to close out their regular season slate before heading to the state tournament. Ironically, their last regular season loss was to that same Maumelle team they faced in the playoffs. Greenwood dropped that first meeting on April 28th by a single run, 7-6. The second time around, GHS bats were silenced by Maumelle’s top pitcher, a Division I college commit.
Beebe
It was a big first inning for both teams on Thursday, May 1st, when the Lady Badgers came to Greenwood for a non-conference contest. The visitors scored three runs in the top of the first inning off GHS starting pitcher Jordyn Floyd, who surrendered three consecutive singles to open the game. An error followed and before the frame closed Beebe led 3-0. But the Lady Bulldogs were quick to respond, scoring five runs in the bottom half of the inning in route to an 8-4 victory.
Two more runs in the third and another in the fourth accounted for all of Greenwood’s scoring. Beebe added a single run in the seventh. Floyd earned the mound victory and finished with a pitching line of four runs, two earned, on eight Beebe hits, issuing two walks with two strikeouts. She needed 92 pitches and threw 58 strikes.
On the offensive side, the GHS girls also had eight hits, two each by Emily Creason and Daisy Parker, with Parker picking up a pair of RBIs. Creason, Lakyn Dawson, and Parker also scored two runs each. Dawson had a hit and RBI, as did Saylor Hart, Brilea Rofkahr, and Isabella Meyers. Rylee Floyd also had an RBI without a hit.
Siloam Springs
Returning to league play the following day against the Lady Panthers, the Greenwood girls scored late to put away the victory on the road, 6-0. Scoreless after three innings, the visitors plated a solo run in the top of the fourth while GHS starting hurler Alyssa Lovell held the home team scoreless, giving up just three hits in the game while going all seven frames.
GHS bats added one more run in the top of the sixth and four more in the seventh on a total of seven hits. Lovell gave two walks and fanned five Siloam Springs’ hitters. Only Rylee Floyd had two hits for Greenwood, including an RBI. Piper Pitts also had a hit and RBI, as did Emily Creason and Brilea Rofkahr. Saylor Hart and Isabella Meyers also singled while Laykn Dawson added a solo RBI on a sacrifice fly.
Russellville
The Lady Bulldogs pulled off a huge home victory on Monday, May 5th, against Russellville with a 1-0 conference win, keeping them at the top of the league standings with one game to go. A single unearned run in the home half of the second inning stood up as both starting hurlers went the distance. Greenwood’s Makayla Bachert worked seven innings, giving up four hits and a walk with three strikeouts. Likewise, the visiting starter also allowed five hits and no earned runs.
Greenwood’s Daisy Parker led off the bottom of the second inning with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Brilea Rofkahr. Parker then took third on a passed ball and then scored on the play. Besides Parker, teammates Ava Cranor, Emily Creason, an Emmy Burton (2) had the other hits for the Lady Bulldogs. The GHS interior defense also turned a pair of double plays in the contest.
Mountain Home
Needing a win in their final conference game to secure first place and the league’s top seed in the playoffs, the GHS girls survived a 3-2 battle at home over the visiting Lady Bombers of Mountain Home on Thursday, May 8th. Makayla Bachert toed the rubber in the circle for Greenwood and pitched five shutout frames before being relieved by Alyssa Lovell in the sixth. Lovell gave up two runs in the sixth but shut down enemy bats in the seventh inning for the save.
Greenwood scored solo runs in consecutive innings in the second, third, and fourth frames to build a 3-0 lead. GHS bats generated only three hits in the contest but took advantage of four Mountain Home walks. Piper Pitts and Daisy Parker both had solo hits and RBIs for the Lady Bulldogs. Saylor Hart had the other Greenwood hit and scored a run.
Lamar
After completing their conference schedule with a 13-1 record, one game ahead of Farmington (12-2), the GHS girls closed out their regular season with a non-conference contest at Lamar, holding off the Lady Warriors for a 7-6 win after building an earlier 7-3 lead. Both teams scored in the first inning, but Lamar’s 3-1 lead didn’t last long. Greenwood scored three times in the top of the second and three more times in the fourth inning for a four-run lead. The home team then added two runs in the fourth and one more in the sixth.
Four GHS pitchers covered the seven innings, starting with Alyssa Lovell (2.0 innings), Jordyn Floyd (2), Sienna Wells (1.0), and Makayla Bachert (2). That quartet gave up seven total hits and five walks, but only three Lamar runs were earned due to three GHS defensive errors. The Lady Warriors also made three fielding errors and allowed four unearned runs.
With the sticks, Greenwood hitters were led by Daisy Parker and Piper Pitts. Parker blasted a homerun and drove home three runs while Pitts had a single and two runs batted in. Emily Creason, Laykn Dawson, Brilea Rofkahr, and Isabella Meyers also had solo hits with Dawson and Meyers picking up solo RBIs.
Maumelle
Last Thursday’s first-round playoff game with the Lady Hornets (#4 5A Central) was an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel between GHS freshman starter Makayla Bachert and Division I college bound Maumelle starter Layla Ward. The contest was scoreless through five innings before a two-out rally by the Lady Hornets plated two runs. The Lady Bulldogs were held to just three hits, two by Daisy Parker and the other by Piper Pitts. Trailing 2-0, Greenwood got a hit in the seventh inning but could not add on, failing to get a runner past second base for the entire game.
Coach Hart and his players knew the Lady Hornets would be a handful, especially with their top pitcher in the circle. They expected a low-scoring game and that proved to be the case as both pitchers and their respective defenders performed well. The coach described the 5A Central as the best conference in the state this season with three of their four playoff teams reaching the semifinals. One of them – Benton – will now play for the state title against the defending champions from Sheridan, a perennial 5A South power in Arkansas high school softball.
“They didn’t pitch their #1,” said Hart, referring to the first meeting between Greenwood and Maumelle. As for Ward, the GHS skipper described her as a righthander who throws in the low 60s and is a D-1 commit. “She’s really good,” he said. “We faced her last year early in the season. We knew it would be a low scoring game, and we would have to put some hits together to score a few runs. We were able to get three hits and had one reach by error but just couldn't put them together.”
As for his own starting hurler, Hart said, “Makayla did a great job – everything we could ask of her. But [Maumelle] was able to find a way to put a couple hits together and we weren’t. We knew it was a winnable game, but a tough game. [Still], we had a great season. We won 22 games, a conference championship, and the DMAC [tournament] championship. There were only two games we weren’t in the whole season. We lost some [close] games and won some [close] games, but [overall], we did really well. The state tournament [featured] some great pitching, but it just wasn’t our day.
“But I was really proud of them,” said the coach of his players. “We competed the whole game. We were up. We had some great leadership before the game with our seniors and juniors. You always want to win one more, but softball is a funny game sometimes.” Hart then concluded his remarks, responding to a question about the future of his program.
“I feel good about the direction of our program. We lose a big senior class, but we won’t rebuild, we’ll reload.” Hart expects younger players to step up to fill the void left by the five departing seniors, especially in the middle infield. But the really good news is that his entire pitching staff returns next season. Three GHS seniors will also continue their softball careers in college, including Saylor Hart, Emmy Burton, and Brilea Rofkahr.