Leopards, Lady Leopards have strong showing on the diamond Monday
A strong start to the week is exactly what head baseball coach Jordan Knight wanted for the Malvern Leopards as they started another grueling week on the diamond. And both the Leopards and the Lady Leopards had strong showings on the diamond Monday.
The Leopards hosted the defending 3A State Champions, Haskell Harmony Grove, at Morrison Park Monday while the Lady Leopards hosted 7-4A conference opponent Mena. Both squads were able to pull out wins to start the week. The Leopards had a come from behind win defeating the Harmony Grove Cardinals 10-7 after a four run sixth inning. The Lady Leopards took control early against the Mena Ladycats and won 5-1.
Up next for the Leopards is the Benton Panthers Thursday at 5 p.m. at Panther Stadium in Benton. For the Lady Leopards, their next contest will be on the road against conference opponent De Queen. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.
Leopards 10, Cardinals 7
The Cardinals took a 5-0 lead over the Leopards after scoring four runs in the first inning then adding one run in the second inning. The Leopards made a comeback though to take the lead 6-5 lead after the fifth inning. The Leopards got on track with three runs in the third, one run in the fourth, and two runs in the fifth to take the one-run lead. In the top of the sixth, the Cardinals retook the lead, 7-6, after scoring another two runs. But the Leopards fought back and scored four runs to take a 10-7 lead going into the seventh inning. The Leopards secured victory after holding the Cardinals scoreless in the top of the seventh inning.
For the game, the Leopards recorded 10 runs on 10 hits while the Cardinals had seven runs on 11 hits.
Lady Leopards 5, Ladycats 3 The Mena Ladycats were able to score one run in the top of the first inning of Monday’s game, but the Lady Leopards answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning to take control of the game. After two scoreless innings, the Lady Leopards added two more runs to their total to take a 5-1 lead over the Ladycats. The Ladycats got the ball rolling again in the fifth by scoring one run to trail 5-2 and held the Lady Leopards scoreless in the bottom of the inning. In the sixth, the Lady Leopards were able to hold the Ladycats to one run and squash any chance of a comeback win. The Lady Leopards claimed victory after holding the Ladycats scoreless in the seventh inning.
For the game the Lady Leopards had five runs on 10 hits while holding the Ladycats to three runs on eight hits.