2016 season a memorable one
Ironically, the night I really believed the 2016 softball season could be a fun ride I was actually at Panther Stadium at SSHS watching soccer. The softball team was in Fayetteville that night and I was receiving updates from excited parents through text messages and on Twitter.
Siloam Springs belted seven home runs that night in a 1514 nonconference win over Fayetteville at Lady’Dawg Yard.
Crissa Spry and Morgan Curtis each hit two home runs that night, while Hannah Evans, Kenlie Noel and Lexus Allen all hit home runs as well.
It was one of many nights where the 2016 team outslugged its competition.
A few nights later, the Lady Panthers clubbed Mountain Home 13-6, including a six-RBI night from Hannah Evans, in front of the home fans at La-Z-Boy Park.
They knocked off Conway 4-1 in game one of a doubleheader later in the year and also beat Russellville 9-7 and Alma 5-3 in conference play, which were crucial to getting the team to the playoffs.
The biggest win of that season, though, came on April 5 when the Lady Panthers stunned defending 6A state champion
Greenwood 3-2 on the Lady Bulldogs’ home field.
Crissa Spry outdueled Greenwood’s Victoria Taylor for the win in the circle, then Hannah Evans had an unassisted double play to end the game with the tying run on third base.
It was a milestone win for the softball program in a milestone year.
The Lady Panthers finished with a record of 16-11 in head coach Scott Wright’s third season.
The team had the best lineup of any Siloam Springs team that I have covered, and one that I liked to refer to as “Mash City.”
The Lady Panthers finished the season with 20 home runs as a team, including six each from Curtis and Spry, five from Evans, and one each from Noel, Allen and Yazmine Alfaro.
As a photographer, you really had to be on the lookout when kids like Curtis, Evans and Spry came up to bat. A line drive off their bat could wipe out anyone who wasn’t paying attention, like a sportswriter along the third base line chatting with folks in the dugout.
I fondly remember Curtis wearing yellow work gloves as batting gloves and doing a fun story on that. She was a threat to hit a home run nearly every time up.
So was Evans, who was a solid third baseman and a terrific hitter as well.
Spry pitched a lot of games for SSHS over the years, winning 16 games in 2016. She could hit too.
Coupled around those three were lots of good players, including Kenlie Noel, Ally Bunch, Lexus Allen, Yazmine Alfaro.
Unfortunately, the 2016 Lady Panthers lost in the opening round of the Class 6A playoffs to Lake Hamilton, 4-1, in a game where their bats suddenly went quiet.