SILOAM SPRINGS -- The Lady Pioneers of Gentry put three runs on the board in the bottom of the first and another run in both the third and fourth innings to defeat the Lady Bulldogs of Fayetteville and win Saturday's softball tournament in Siloam Springs, 5-1.
Gentry scored its runs in the first inning on a single by Alyssa Kelton, a ground out by Alexis Droddy and a double by Harley Stanfield, putting Gentry up, 3-1.
Taylor Hull doubled to left in the third and drove in Jaydon Jarnagan, pinch runner for Alyssa Kelton, who also doubled in the inning.
In the fourth, April Harris, who singled with a line drive to center, scored on a Lali Estrada sacrifice ground ball.
"(I'm) so proud to ride the coattails and beat Northside, Siloam and Fayetteville to win the Siloam Springs tournament," Paul Ernest, Gentry's head softball coach said. "I've asked a lot of these girls and put them through some rigors," he added. "I've tried to teach them to face their fears and finish. Today, they performed the way I believed they could. Our record is not what any of us would like, but the foundation of talent is there. Now, hopefully, our level of belief will meet it."
Gentry had six hits in the game. Kelton and Hull each had two hits for Gentry.
Alyssa Kelton pitched in the game, allowing five hits and one run. She struck out two.
Kelton, Hull, Droddy, Stanfield and Estrada each had an RBI in the championship game.
Gentry 7, Siloam Springs 6
By Graham Thomas
Siloam Springs missed its chance to put away Gentry in the winner's bracket semifinals against Gentry. The Lady Panthers had the winning run at third base with one out in the bottom of the seventh but couldn't score. The game went to the top of the eighth inning with the international tiebreaker rule in effect for the second straight inning.
Gentry started the inning with a runner at second base, and the Lady Panthers were able to throw her out trying to steal third, to open the inning with an out. But the next six Gentry batters all reached base via walk, hit or dropped strikeout, and the Lady Pioneers scored five runs in the eighth inning to go up 7-2.
Siloam Springs answered with a rally of its own in the bottom of the eighth, scoring four runs and bringing the winning run to the plate, but Sydney Smith flew out to center field for the final out and a 7-6 win for the Lady Pioneers.
Gentry went on to defeat Fayetteville 5-1 in the championship game to earn the tournament victory.
The loss to Gentry erased one of the better pitching performances of the year for Siloam Springs senior Crissa Spry, who carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning.
"I tip my hat to Crissa and how she pitched in that (Gentry) game," Scott Wright said. "She was outstanding. She pitched about as well as I've ever seen her pitch."
The Lady Panthers took a 1-0 lead in the second when Smith singled and scored on an RBI double by Danielle Boyster.
Gentry took advantage of a passed-ball strikeout and two Lady Panthers errors in the third to tie the game, 1-1.
Neither team scored the next three innings and the time limit expired with the game still tied at one apiece. Because the time limit expired, the tiebreaker rule went into effect in the top of the seventh inning, and Gentry took a 2-1 lead when a Siloam Springs error cost the Lady Panthers a chance to get out of the inning still knotted at 1-1.
Trailing 2-1, Aislyn Burchette's RBI single scored Hannah Evans to tie the game 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh, and Maranda Guntharp doubled to set up second and third with one out. But Gentry pitcher Alyssa Kelton retired the next two batters, and the game went into the eighth.
Lali Estrada reached on a walk with one out in the eighth for Gentry. She stole second base and Brooke Boston followed with a single. An error on Siloam Springs allowed both runners to score. Billi Taylor reached on a fielder's choice and Kelton singled before Taylor Hull reached on a wild pitch on a strikeout. Alexis Droddy drove in two runners with an RBI double to make it 7-2.
The Lady Panthers made it interesting in the bottom of the eighth. Rachel Mann started the inning at second base via the tiebreaker rule, but Spry popped out and Noel grounded out for two quick outs.
Evans walked and Alfaro and Burchette reached on back-to-back errors. Guntharp then laced a two-run single to bring the winning run to the plate in Smith, but she flew out to center.
"I thought we had some other bright spots in that game," Wright said. "We had some good hits. We had a lot of great things that happened in that game. We just didn't finish the game. We just didn't finish it off. Softball's kind of a funny game sometimes, and that happens. But the main thing we've got to keep doing is getting better, and that's our focus."
Gentry 7, Siloam Springs 6
Gentry^001^000^15^--^7^3^3
Siloam Springs^010^000^14^--6^6^3
Kelton and Hull; Spry and Alfaro. W - Kelton. L - Spry. HR - None.
In other games last week, the Lady Pioneers split a doubleheader against Elkins on April 11, winning one, 3-2, but falling in the second game, 12-5.
Against Pea Ridge, the Gentry girls lost a heart-breaker, 4-3, after exchanging the lead with Pea Ridge numerous times. The Lady Pioneers scored two in the fifth to tie the game at two runs each and then took the lead in the bottom of the sixth, 3-2. But Pea Ridge tied things up with a run in the seventh and stole the win with another run in the eighth to take home a 4-3 win over Gentry.
Sports on 04/19/2017