Washington County Enterprise-Leader
One Stroke Of Scott’s Bat
PRAIRIE GROVE GIRLS GET BY GENTRY, 4-3
PRAIRIE GROVE — Bam, with one stroke of Kylie Scott’s bat, a see-saw battle with Gentry and Prairie Grove taking turns scoring, the game was over.
A seventh inning rally was complete when Kylie Scott blasted a 2 RBI triple with one out to push Prairie Grove past Gentry, 4-3, in 3A/4A District-1 softball play on Thursday. Sophomore Liberty Kidd batted a single past the pitcher and Reagan Rochier walked to set the scene for Scott’s heroics.
“It felt really good to come back cause I started out struggling at the start of the game,” Scott said. “I knew it was going to be tough with two runners on and one out, but I just remembered all my batting lessons and stuff and put it to good use.”
Gentry had taken a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh on consecutive hits by senior outfielder Xitlali Estrada, who drove a single into shallow right center field to lead off, and was plated on classmate Brooke Boston’s double. At that juncture, with Boston at second and two outs, Prairie Grove coach Dustin Beck pulled starter Laney Layman and inserted his other pitcher, sophomore Maddie Stearman. Stearman induced a short pop- up which she fielded off a 2-1 pitch for the third out, leaving Boston stranded.
“They gave us all we wanted,” Beck said. “I told them it was going to be like that. He (Gentry coach Paul Ernest) had a good plan. They caused us a lot of trouble at the plate.”
Gentry starter junior Alyssa Kelton kept the Lady Tigers off-balance for most of the game, inducing a pop- up and two ground-outs to preserve a 1-0 Gentry lead as the third inning concluded. The Lady Pioneers added another run in the fourth. Alexis Droddy drew a leadoff walk and went to second on Harley Stanfield’s sacrifice bunt. April Harris drove in Kelton with an RBI single to push the Gentry lead to 2-0.
“She did a great job,” Ernest said. “She battled, she attacked her spots, gave us a chance going into the bottom of the seventh. You hate to have a walk mixed in, but you got to give a lot of credit to their girls. That’s a big spot to have a single and a triple in.”
Prairie Grove got a runner on in the bottom of the fourth when Anna Kidd was walked. Arianna Pickett reached on an error and the speedy Anna Kidd raced home to cut Gentry’s lead in half, at 2-1. Ali Edgar was up next and Kelton got her to ground-out, but Edgar took advantage of a throw going to third and ran home to even the score at 2-2. The Lady Tigers were scoreless in the fifth and sixth innings.
“We didn’t do a good job of stringing stuff together at the plate until the last inning when our seven and eight got on and our leadoff hitter, she had been struggling a little bit, she picked a good time to hit,” Beck said. “She came up with a big hit.”
Scott performed magnificently with a runner in scoring position. Her wellplaced hit cleared the bases with two runs scoring and she reached third to record a triple. The game ended there with one out because the 2-run shot put Prairie Grove ahead, 4-3.
Scott drew praise from Stearman, who kept Prairie Grove in position to take a win by getting the third out after Gentry went ahead, 3-2, in the top of the seventh.
“Kylie’s been hitting the ball a lot better this year as whole.”
While admitting she was kind of nervous, Stearman was glad to go in and get the opportunity.
“That’s not the first time that’s happened to me,” Stearman said. “Movement pitches always help in that situation.”
Stearman said she likes what Coach Beck is doing with the pitching staff, saying, “Laney and me are getting more chances to mix up more pitches and get movement.”