Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
North Little Rock downs Bryant to move to title game
ROGERS — North Little Rock is going back to the Class 7A state championship game.
Two-time defending state champion North Little Rock worked out of several jams and scored five runs with two outs to defeat Bryant 6-1 in the semifinals at the Class 7A state softball tournament Saturday afternoon at Veterans Park in Rogers.
North Little Rock (21-7) will face Cabot in the championship game Friday at 10 a.m. at Bogle Park in Fayetteville.
“You can’t win it again if you don’t get there,” North Little Rock coach Anthony Cantrell said. “We have a chance.”
North Little Rock scored its first four runs with two outs for a 4- 0 lead after three innings and the Lady Charging Wildcats finished with nine hits. Reagan Sperling had three hits and two RBIs while freshman Cassidy Tucker had a pair of doubles and one RBI for North Little Rock.
“We preach two-out hits, two-strike hits,” Cantrell said. “Those things are demoralizing for the other team. We had some big from pretty much everybody. Cassidy Tucker had a great game. The defense played well again.”
North Little Rock took a 1-0 lead in the second inning before taking control with three more runs in the third inning. Tucker scored Sperling with a two-out double for a 1-0 lead and Sperling then followed an RBI single by McKenzie Escovedo with a two-out, two-run single that upped the lead to 4-0.
Sperling hit another double in the fourth and gave the Lady Charging Wildcats a 5-0 lead on an RBI single by No. 9 hitter Lydia Belew.
Bryant (17-6) put the leadoff runners on base in the second and third innings and they left the bases loaded in the fifth inning. The Lady Hornets scored a single run in the bottom of the seventh but they left nine runners stranded.
“We had our chances, but we couldn’t get that big hit,” said Bryant coach Debbie Clark. “But I am so proud of these girls for fighting to the end.”