LINCOLN -- Sumer Kaba knew the hit had a chance to leave the park as soon as the bat met the softball. As the ball arced toward the left-centerfield wall, Gravette coach Taos Jones jumped, sort of. As Kaba reached first base, the ball inched over the wall for a two-run home run in the eighth inning, giving the Lady Lions a three-run lead.
Gravette needed all of that cushion, hanging on for a 5-4 win Monday against Pottsville in the championship game of the 4A North Regional Tournament. The Lady Lions had a two-run error in the bottom of the inning and Pottsville had a runner at third as the game ended on a pop-up.
"We like to make it entertaining, I guess," Jones said. "We like to get the fans stirred up."
They certainly did that in the bottom of the eighth inning. Gravette carried a 5-2 lead as the second half of the inning started. Using the international tie-breaker rule, Pottsville opened the inning with a runner at second base, but Shannon Lasey was quickly erased on a 5-1-3 tag for the first out. The next two batters reached before Gravette pitcher Bailey Elmore struck out Sadie Saul for the second out.
Skylar Campbell followed with a sharp grounder that went through the Gravette second baseman all the way to the wall. The two runners scored and Campbell raced around to third, representing the tying run. But Elmore got Kayli Pennington to pop-out to second, ending the game.
In the Gravette portion of the eighth, Sydney King opened the frame at second base and scored when Keeley Bulza crushed an RBI double into the left-field corner for a 3-2 Gravette lead. Kaba followed by taking a 0-1 pitch over the left-centerfield wall for her second home run of the tournament.
"I could feel it and I was like, that either has to hit the fence or it's going," Kaba said. "I was like, thank God, because I needed that. I was hitting so bad."
As the ball inched over the wall, Jones jumped "about as well as a fat guy can jump."
Monday's win was the second championship in as many weeks for Gravette (22-6) in Lincoln. The Lady Lions also won the 4A-1 Conference tournament.
Elmore was dominant in the circle on Monday, allowing six hits with five strikeouts. She pitched out of trouble several times, and Pottsville (25-3) also made a couple of base-running mistakes that proved costly. In the sixth inning, Pottsville's Kira Harrel crushed a lead-off double off the wall and scored on a Gravette error to tie the score at 2-2. But Harrel was caught off second on Campbell's soft liner for a double play that ended a potential rally.
"We had a lot of base-running errors," Pottsville coach Greg Jones said. "We had a couple of freshmen out there, but freshmen have to learn and this is a good time to learn. Even though it's a bad situation, I hoped they learned from it."
Gravette, which will have a first-round bye at the 4A state tournament in Nashville, jumped to a 2-1 lead in the third inning in typical fashion as Gabbi Scott led off with a walk, stole second and scored on Lexi Gerner's RBI double. Gerner scored on a Pottsville error, but the Lady Lions left a runner stranded at third.
Pottsville, the defending state champions, will open state tournament play at 5:30 p.m. Thursday against Star City. Gravette will take on the winner of the DeWitt vs. Lonoke game at 3 p.m. Friday.
In the third place game, Pea Ridge rolled to a 16-1 win over Berryville.
Gravette 002 000 03 -- 5 8 2
Pottsville 010 001 02 -- 4 6 1
Elmore and Ellis; Lasey, A. Campbell (7) and Saul. W - Elmore, 15-5. L -- Campbell. HRs -- Gravette, Kaba (5)
Sports on 05/09/2018