Gentry thriving with Jones

Erica Jones was patient as an assistant coach at Gentry, but now that she’s the one turning in the lineup cards before each game, she’s taking full advantage.

Gentry (13-3) has lost to the kingpins in the 4A-1 Conference like Farmington (7-6), Pea Ridge (14-8) and Harrison (3-0), but all three games were winnable games for the Lady Pioneers.

Jones said seniors Taylor Norman and Randi Jo Bolinger, who have been with the program for four years, have been key leaders for this year’s squad.

“They have contributed excellent leadership to our program,” said Jones.

Last Tuesday, Gentry claimed a 14-0 win against Huntsville as junior pitcher Kyleigh Wheaton fired a no-hitter with 12 strikeouts. In the one-run loss to Farmington, Gentry led for most of the game until the Lady Cardinals struck for six runs in the late innings. Wheaton, who is batting around .600, allowed just four hits but was undone by four errors behind her.

“We worked a whole lot on hitting in the offseason,” said Jones, who took over for former coach Paul Earnest. “We just wanted to be aggressive at the plate. I think that has been huge for us. And we’ve put in a lot of work in the field, too, but we’re still making some errors here and there, but we’ve talked a lot about not letting that carry-over to the next play.”

Jones is also the volleyball coach at Gentry and most of her squad is comprised of multi-sport players, but the majority of the squad focuses just on softball in the spring, she said.

“We have six girls in our lineup who have hit home runs,” said Jones.

Jones admits the 4A-1 is brutal, but the Lady Pioneers’ coach knows that when the postseason arrives in a couple of weeks, these tough conference games will be a benefit to the teams that get out of the district tournament.

“If we’re able to get out and make it to regionals, I feel like the competition we’ve seen will prepare us,” she said. “These girls, they have stepped up big. We’ve had some losses, but they’ve played really well for a lot of innings.”

(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo - above; Westside Eagle Observer/Randy Moll - left) ABOVE Bentonville centerfielder Keegan Allen catches a flyball Monday during a game against Fayetteville at Bentonville High School. LEFT Gentry junior pitcher Kyleigh Wheaton, who threw a no-hitter with 12 strikeouts in a recent victory over Huntsville, has helped the Lady Pioneers get off to a 13-3 start.

(Special to NWA Democrat Gazette/Brian Sanderford - above; Special to NWA Democrat Gazette/David Beach - right) ABOVE Fort Smith Southside’s Madison Conklin reacts as she rounds third after hitting a home run to start the game against Fort Smith Northside on Monday at Grizzly Field. Northside won 5-2. RIGHT Kaylee Vorisek of Bentonville controls the ball April 9 against Bentonville West at Tiger Stadium in Bentonville.