Lady Cyclones wreck Senior Night
Russellville shuts out SSHS
The second half to the softball season has not been kind to the Siloam Springs Lady Panthers.
Neither was Senior Night on Monday evening.
The Lady Panthers dropped their ninth straight game with a 10-0 loss to Russellville in six innings in a 5A/6A District 1 game played at La-Z-Boy Park.
With the loss, Siloam Springs dropped to 3-16 overall and 2-9 in 5A/6A District 1 games.
In fact, the Lady Panthers’ last victory came against the same Russellville team on March 28 by a 5-2 score at Russellville.
On Monday, it was the Lady Cyclones who came out the aggressors, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning and adding to that lead in every inning but one on their way to a mercy-rule win.
Russellville’s pitcher Meredith Duffield helped her own cause by slamming a two-run home run in the fourth inning. She also allowed just two Siloam Springs hits in pitching a shutout.
“The hardest part was we just didn’t hit the ball,” said Siloam Springs head coach Scott Wright. “We never put any pressure on them and they got hits to put pressure on us to get us into the mistake area. When we made a few mistakes, it got blown open there. And we just never got our bats going. At the end of the day, even if you make a few fielding mistakes, you’ve got to hit the ball.”
The Lady Cyclones got things going early against Siloam Springs senior pitcher Crissa Spry (3-11). Hannah Rickman singled on the first pitch of the game and moved to second on a bunt by Taylor Kilgore.
T he hardest part was we just didn’t hit the ball. We never put any pressure on them and they got hits to put pressure on us to get us into the mistake area. When we made a few mistakes, it got blown open there. Scott Wright Siloam Springs softball coach
Spry walked Rachel Russell and then hit Duffield to load the bases. A fielder’s choice off the bat of Dayven Pledger scored the first run and a base hit by Emmy Hipps scored two more runs as Russellville took a 3-0 lead.
The Lady Cyclones scored three more in the second to go up 6-0. Rickman singled again and Kilgore ripped an RBI triple into the right field corner for a 4-0 lead. Russell followed with an RBI single to score Kilgore, and two Siloam Springs errors allowed Russell to score to make it 6-0.
Duffield’s two-run home run to left center field made it 8-0 in the fourth inning and the Lady Cyclones added single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
Rickman, who had three hits, singled home Katelyn Harrison to make it 9-0 in the fifth. Then in the sixth, after a leadoff double by Russell, Pledger hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score the 10th run.
The Lady Cyclones (7-14, 5-5) finished with 11 hits, a pleasing sight to head coach Harley Sisson.
“I was real proud of our hitting,” Sisson said. “We’ve been needing to do that. We’ve left a lot of runners on base.”
Sisson also was pleased with the Lady Cyclones’ defense and his pitcher, Duffield.
On Monday, the Panthers opened the game by taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Taylor Pool singled with one out and courtesy runner Jacob Rowe replaced him at first base. Chance Junkermann was hit by a pitch and Rowe came around to score on a single by Josh Hunt.
Prairie Grove answered with two runs against Ellis.
Clay Fidler walked to open the inning and Reed Orr singled to advance Fidler to third. Drew Cates singled to score Fidler and Austin Jentzsch singled to score Orr to make it 2-1.
Siloam Springs retook the lead with three runs in the second inning.
Landon Nickell and Eli Hawbaker hit back-to-back singles to open the inning with Nickell advancing to third on an error. Nickell scored on a sacrifice fly from Chandler Cook.
Pool singled and Junkermann was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Hawbaker and Rowe scored on an error by Prairie Grove center fielder Jadin Higgins. to make it 4-2.
The Panthers pulled ahead 5-2 in the fourth. Cook opened the inning with a walk and he advanced to second on a Pool groundout. Cook scored on a Junkermann single to make it 5-2.
Siloam Springs added two more runs in the fifth.
Nickell singled to open the inning and stole second base. Hawbaker walked and Rowe singled to score Nickell. After Pool was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Junkermann drew a basesloaded walk to score Hawbaker to make it 7-2.
Nickell and Hawbaker each finished with two hits and two runs scored for Siloam Springs, which totaled 11 hits. Pool and Josh Hunt also had two hits apiece, while Rowe scored two runs and had an RBI. Junkermann finished with two RBIs.
The Panthers are now scheduled to play Saturday in the opening round of the 6A-West Conference Tournament. Siloam Springs must win one of its next two games to advance to the Class 6A State Tournament May 11-13 in Benton.
“We’re going to have some guys step up,” Hardcastle said. “That’s all it comes down to.”