FARMINGTON — Gravette still has work left to be done down the road in regional and state softball tournaments.
Before then, the Lady Lions made sure to take care of a major goal when they wrapped up a 4A-1 District Tournament championship with a 5-2 win against top seed Farmington at Lady Cardinal Field.
“We’re ecstatic,” Gravette coach Taos Jones said. “Farmington is a good team. We know they’re going to be a good team, and we just had to come out and play our game and not play nervous. And that’s what we did.”
Freshman Lindsee La-Brecque (10-1) did her part inside the pitching circle for Gravette, allowing just one earned run and five hits, with one walk and seven strikeouts. On the other side of the field, Farmington didplenty to aid the Lady Lions’ victory as well, committing five errors which led to five unearned runs.
Gravette (17-4) put the pressure on the Lady Cardinals’ defense in the second inning when Destaney Wishon singled with oneout. Shyanne Nichols was then intentionally walked to set up a sacrifice bunt situation, which resulted in a throwing error and two Lady Lions runs.
After Farmington tied the game 2-2 in the bottom of the second with an RBI double from Brooke Larkin and an unearned run of its own, more Lady Cardinals’ defensive mistakes made the difference.
In the top of the sixth, Ashleigh Horn singled to lead off for Gravette. With one out, Melanie Bunch reached on an error, attempting a sacrifice bunt.
Kyndra Meeker then reached on Farmington’s second error of the inning, giving Gravette a 4-2 lead before an infield single by Meagan Ward increased the lead to 5-2.
“For us to even be in the game against a very good Gravette team after committing that many errors, it just boggles the mind,” Farmington coach Randy Osnes said. “It just boggles the mind.”
“But their freshman pitcher dominated us from the word go, they outplayed us in every phase of the game and we didn’t deserve to win that game. They played harder. Theyattacked the ball as hitters and as fielders, and we were very passive.”
Nichols, who was intentionally walked four times and scored one run, said Monday’s victory was a top priority for the Lady Lions the entire season.
“This was a great feeling, especially since this is my senior year,” Nichols said. “All we’ve ever wanted to do is beat Farmington, and we did.”
Gravette toppled Pea Ridge and powerhouse Ozark in district tournament action leading to the Lions’ 5-2 win over Farmington to take the district 4A-1 title Monday.
Lindsee LaBrecque won all three games on the mound for Gravette, starting with a no-hit 6-0 win over Pea Ridge last Friday. Gravette had 8 hits in the one-sided matchup.
Saturday the Lady Lions, seed third in the tournament, took care of number-two seed Ozark 2-1 by outhitting Ozark 6-4 and capitalizing on Ozark errors.
Sports, Pages 10 on 05/02/2012