Spring Salute: Stout Always A Tough Out

No team was likely more motivated to get back on the field this spring than Farmington, which lost in the state softball finals the last two years.

Farmington was stacked, too, led by 10 seniors, including All-State first baseman Kally Stout. But Farmington’s season ended March 10 when the Lady Cardinals won 9-7 at Bentonville West. The Arkansas Activities Association called for a two-week suspension of play on March 12, then extended it again before finally deciding in April to completely end spring sports across the state.

Stout batted .439 with 10 home runs as a junior for a team that finished 25-3 overall. Farmington was on the cusp of a dream season last spring when Pottsville rallied for a 7- 4 victory over the Lady Cardinals in the Class 4A state championship game at Bogle Park in Fayetteville. It was the second straight year as state runner-up for Farmington, which was 3-0 this spring when games in all sports were canceled because of concerns about the spread of covid-19.

Stout was off to another strong start, highlighted by a 16-6 win over Bryant when she clubbed two home runs and produced five RBIs.

“Kally’s the best I’ve had here in 24 years, and we’ve had a lot of great players,” Farmington coach Randy Osnes said. “She has all the tools. She’s got speed, she’s extremely athletic, and she has one of the smoothest swings of any kid that

I’ve seen.”

Stout said she was having a great senior year at Farmington when the spring sports were canceled. Stout made All-Conference and All-State tournament team in volleyball after leading Farmington to a 21-5-1 record. Stout was also selected football homecoming queen in a year when Farmington opened its new stadium.

But Stout said she would’ve traded it all for another chance to win a state championship in softball. But that opportunity is gone forever for the 10 Farmington seniors on the team.

“I’d give up that (homecoming) crown, for sure,” Stout said. “I’d rather have a (championship) ring. I saw on social media AAA had canceled the games, and I couldn’t believe it. I’m still kinda processing it all but there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Farmington strung together 17 consecutive victories last season before losing to Pottsville in the state championship game. The Lady Cardinals went 10-0 in league play and won both the 4A-1 Conference and 4A North Regional Tournaments.

Taos Jones, who stepped down recently as softball coach at Gravette, said Stout was always a tough out.

“Much like many of Farmington’s kids, you didn’t want to pitch to her,” Jones said. “I was always trying to look for weaknesses in a kids’ swing and get my pitcher to exploit those. Stout didn’t have a lot of holes in her swing, which made it hard to pitch to her, and it always seemed like she was up when there were runners in scoring position. She was going to put the ball in play and make you play defense. You just hoped to keep her in the park.”

Stout is finishing on-line classes and keeping good grades at Farmington before she heads off to Conway in August to attend Central Arkansas University. She hopes to become an Occupational Therapist and possibly continue her softball career at UCA. But she’s always going to cherish her days as a student and two-sport athlete at Farmington, even with business left unfinished as a senior in softball.

“I’m gonna miss my teammates and coaches more than anything,” Stout said. “I’m gonna miss that feeling of the beginning of each game, each at bat and the feeling of beating your rivals.”

Osnes is a veteran coach who said he’ll continue coaching as long as players like Kally Stout keep walking through the door.

“You take Kally, and these 10 seniors as a whole, their combined grade point average is 3.96,” Osnes said. “Kally is an outstanding young lady with a good head on her shoulders and she does the right things. She’s going to do the right things at UCA. She’s going to get an education and she’s going to be a success. I’m very proud to coach Kally, her sister Keely, and the other eight seniors.”

FILE PHOTO Kally Stout rounds third base during regional tournament action last May in Farmington. Stout is an all-state player who helped Farmington to two state runner-up finishes in softball and she was also all-conference in volleyball for the Lady Cardinals.

MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Twin sisters, Kally (left) and Keely Stout, pose with a State Runner-Up trophy won as members of the Farmington softball team. Twice during their careers the twins helped the Lady Cardinals bring home State Runner-Up hardware from the 5A State tourney as sophomores in 2018 and 4A State tourney as juniors in 2019.