EL DORADO -- Some younger adults might describe El Dorado's 18-1 softball win over Siloam Springs Tuesday as a Monet. The score is pretty from afar but the closer one looks at the details, the uglier it gets. Coach Chris Ezell didn't care how it looked as his team advanced in the 6A West Tournament and qualified for next week's 6A State Tournament.
"It's always one of your goals when you start the season off. We're definitely happy to have that behind us at this point," said Ezell. "I'm proud of them for taking care of business. Anytime you get playoff wins, that's a good thing for you."
6A-West Conference Softball Tournament
April 28, May 1, May 5
Saturday, April 28
Game 1: No. 1 Sheridan 16, No. 8 Siloam Springs 0
Game 2: No. 4 Benton 10, No. 5 El Dorado 0
Game 3: No. 2 Greenwood 15, No. 7 Russellville 0
Game 4: No. 3 Lake Hamilton 9, No. 6 Texarkana 4
Tuesday, May 1
Game 5: No. 5 El Dorado 18, No. 8 Siloam Springs 1
Game 6: No. 6 Texarkana 1, No. 7 Russellville 0
Game 7: No. 1 Sheridan 8, No. 4 Benton 1
Game 8: No. 2 Greenwood 4, No. 3 Lake Hamilton 0
Saturday, May 5
Fifth place: No. 6 Texarkana at No. 5 El Dorado (n)
Third place: No. 4 Benton at No. 3 Lake Hamilton (n)
Championship: No. 2 Greenwood at No. 1 Sheridan (n)
• Teams must win one of first two games to advance to 6A state tournament
* Home games played at higher seed
The Lady Wildcats improved to 16-12 on the season and are scheduled to host the winner of Russellville and Texarkana on Saturday in the battle for the fifth seed.
El Dorado scored its 18 runs on six hits in the three-inning contest. In two at-bats, two Siloam Springs pitchers hit seven batters and walked seven. The Lady Wildcats sent 18 batters to the plate in the bottom of the second, when they scored 14 runs on four hits, five walks and five hit batters.
"I'm just proud of them for taking care of business," said Ezell. "This was one of those games. I think we got hit as many times as we got hits. When you've got something like that going on, you want to make sure you just stay focused at the plate. When you do get the pitches to hit, you're not just sitting there taking it or expecting to get hit."
Grace Hargett pitched three innings for the Lady Wildcats, allowing a run on one hit with four strikeouts. Hargett hit three batters.
El Dorado opened the game with four in the first against Lady Panthers' starter Jessie Robinson. Grace Murry singled and was sacrificed to second by Payton Scarlett. Allyson Silmon and Larran Simmons walked to load the bases. Murry and Silmon both scored on wild pitches before Hargett singled. Lea Jones was hit by a pitch. Sydney Sprawls was hit by a pitch to drive in a run.
Siloam Springs replaced Robinson in the circle with Kenlie Noel, who started the game at catcher. Noel got Taylor Mayo to pop out to the pitcher. Hargett scored on a wild pitch but Jones was out at the plate.
The Lady Panthers got a run in the second when Hargett hit three batters to load the bases for Tyler King, who bounced out to second, driving in a run from third in the process.
The bottom of the second was highlighted by Murry's RBI single, a two-run single by Ava Dunn and an infield RBI hit by Simmons. Silmon also had a hit in the inning.
Jones was hit by a pitch twice in the inning and three times in the game. Murry had two hits in the game.
Siloam Springs ended its season with a 1-18 record.
Sports on 05/06/2018