Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Lady Tigers Much More Aggressive
PRAIRIE GROVE SOFTBALL COMPETES AT FARMINGTON TOURNEY
FARMINGTON — Prairie Grove softball coach Katy Chavis played in the Farmington Invitational as a high school player at Farmington.
Chavis contrasted the experiences of competing in the tourney as a coach differing from that of a student-athlete while coaching the Lady Tigers last weekend. Prairie Grove played games at the Farmington Sports Complex on Southwinds. The Lady Tigers went 1-2 in the tourney. Senior Brianna Byerley worked the chalked circle during the Lady Tigers’ 9-1 loss to Fort Smith Southside Saturday which ended the tourney for Prairie Grove.
“It’s a lot different. I think I’m a lot more nervous coaching than I ever was playing cause I want them to do well and they deserve good things,” Chavis said.
Prairie Grove trailed 4-0 coming into the fourth inning only to have Southside erupt for 5 runs aided by a leadoff walk.
At times Chavis misses being on the field when she sees the Lady Tigers make a play such as when Prairie Grove turned a double play to get out of the fourth.
“I kind of miss playing sometimes when I’m coaching cause they do stuff, I’m like, ‘Aah, wish I could do that,’” Chavis said.
Prairie Grove scored a run in the top of the fifth before time expired. Earlier on Saturday, the Lady Tigers lost 4-0 to Star City.
Prairie Grove made plenty of plays in the Lady Tigers’ 16-1 victory over Springdale Friday. A 12 run second inning put Prairie Grove in command. Freshman Charity Stearman went 3-for-3 with 3 RBIs. Junior Sydney Lowery was 3-of-4 with 2 RBIs. Madie Hutchinson went 1-for-1 with 2 RBIs. Jordan Strong was 2-for-2.
“Their confidence has got a lot better from last year,” Chavis said. “They’re doing the right things that they’re supposed to do. They got
better teamwork, communication, all of that stuff.”
At the beginning of the season Chavis told the team those were the main goals to build confidence, get more teamwork together, and bring an effort.
“They’ve done well on all three counts,” Chavis said.
Prairie Grove utilized aggressive base running to tack on 3 more runs in the top of the fourth. Strong tripled to start the inning and was plated by Charity Stearman’s single into left field. Chavis gave instructions to Hayden Vertz, who took heed and produced a quality at-bat with runners advancing on passed balls, the second of which scored another Prairie Grove run. Vertz struck out but beat a throw to first to get on safely. She stole second and scored the Lady Tigers’ 15th run when Lowery made contact.
“We’re getting more aggressive on the bases cause we’ve got a lot of speed,” Chavis said. “We’ve got a lot of young ones that are training to run bases. As far as hitting goes, they’ve been getting a lot better with learning that hitting the ball isn’t necessarily the accomplishment, but driving it somewhere and doing something with it is even better of a reward than just hitting it. They’re getting a lot better at that.”
Springdale scored a run on a throwing error in the top of the fifth. Yet, the Lady Tigers played sound defense against Springdale. Liberty Kidd had sizzle on some of her pitches with fast balls moving right along and Chavis noticed.
“I was sitting over there and I’d like, I think that was faster than the last one,” Chavis said. “She’s got really good movement on stuff and she’s one of the ones that we’re relying on this year. She’s played a big role in everything.”
Prairie Grove’s 16th run was set up by Delaney Boyd’s lead-off walk. Two batters later Karaline McConnell also walked to put two on for Charity Stearman. Boyd scored on a throw to second and McConnell scooted to third as Springdale reacted. Springdale threw out a runner sliding into home and got a break when a batter stepped out of the box and was ruled out.
Prairie Grove is off this week for spring break. The Lady Tigers (5-3, 0-1) resume action March 25 at home against West Fork.