Lady Grizzlies making strides

It wasn’t that long ago that it would have been unfathomable for Fort Smith to have a chance to beat Conway late in a game. But a once downtrodden program is riding high under secondyear coach David Little.

The Lady Bears (9-5, 1-2 6A-Central) rallied late but came up a little short on Thursday against Conway. The story was the same as it has been for Northside this season, falling behind early then trying to dig themselves out, said Little.

“We’re hitting up and down the lineup and I feel really good about that,” said Little. “We’ve had to have some rallies and a couple of times this year when we’ve had to rally, it’s been the bottom of lineup. What I would like for us to do a better job of is hitting early. It just seems like it takes us a time or two through the lineup to kind of figure out the pitcher. Once we do, we can put runs on the board, but it’s never early. We’re always playing catch-up, but I am proud of the girls. They never quit.”

One player on the Northside team that knows about playing at a championship level us Cailin Massey, who was a member of the 6A state champion basketball team.

Little said Massey had the innate ability to raise the level of play for her teammates.

“First of all, she’s a winner,” said Little. “She is a winner in everything she does. When she shows up, it lifts the confidence of the other girls. I can think of another girl that I would want to have the ball in her hand every pitch.”

Massey is one of the top hitters in the region with a .500 batting average. Northside has also gotten huge offensive production from Chloe Ray, Tori Sumbler and Bailee Brinkley just to name a few.

The schedule does not get any easier for Northside this week. On Tuesday the Lady Grizzlies travel to North Little Rock, then return home against Cabot on Thursday.