Lost at-bat propels Greenbrier
GREENBRIER 3, FARMINGTON 2
BENTON — Jaylee Engelkes saw the ball leave her bat, and she just knew the swing hadn’t helped her cause.
Greenbrier’s pitcher thought the fifth inning would end with a routine groundball, but fate had other ideas.
Instead, Farmington committed its fourth error, allowing the Lady Panthers to claim the Class 5A state softball championship with a 3-2 victory Saturday at the Benton Sports Complex.
The miscue allowed Greenbrier to score and snap a 1-1 tie, and Engelkes made that stand despite allowing Farmington to score a run in the seventh inning.
“Oh, I was thinking I was definitely out,” Engelkes said. “I told myself I was going to run it out, and luckily that girl let the ball go through her legs and allowed my runs to score.”
Greenbrier (29-5) set up the scoring opportunity when Alisa Hankins singled and Cassidy Lear reached on an error, then Kylie Griffin moved the runners over with a sacrifice bunt. McKenzie Shannon then hit a grounder to second, but Farmington’s Carly Antwine fired home and picked up the second out.
That set the stage for Engelkes, whose grounder ended up in left field and allowed two runs to score for a 3-1 Greenbrier lead.
“We would get runners out there in scoring position, and we just couldn’t get the hit,” Greenbrier Coach Brian Butler said. “We finally got a break, and that was the break we needed.”
Farmington (27-5), which hadn’t played Greenbrier this season even though the two teams are 5A-West Conference members, took a 1-0 lead in the first when Alyssa Reed’s bases-loaded single drove in Antwine. The Lady Cardinals couldn’t get anything else going until the seventh.
Antwine and Madison Parrish each drew a walk from Engelkes in the final inning, then Reed singled to right with two outs to score Antwine and cut the lead to 3-2. But Engelkes forced McKenzi Bogan into a groundout to third to end the game.
“You don’t win 27 games in a season by committing four errors,” Farmington Coach Randy Osnes said. “We also left plenty of runners on base. We knew we could hit off this kid in the circle and did a good job putting the ball in play. We had scoring opportunities, and those are the situations you have to take advantage of.
“We’re human, and mistakes are going to happen. Our girl may have made that mistake, but I was the one that called the pitch. It may have been a different pitch called in that situation.”
Greenbrier’s only other run came in the third when Griffin singled and took second on another Farmington error, then later scored on a groundout to second by Engelkes, who was later named the game’s MVP.