Bryant takes late lead, beats Bears
BRYANT – Since falling for the first time in the 6A Central Confrence last week to Cabot, the Bryant Lady Hornets have won three in a row, including a 4-2 win over the Northside Lady Bears Thursday at Lady Hornet Field in Bryant. This win was of come-from-behind variety as the Lady Hornets did not score until the sixth inning, down 2-0 at the time, but put up a 4-spot to take a lead it never relinquished.
The Lady Bears (12-8, 1-5 Central) would get to Bryant freshman starter Leah Hicks early as an RBI single and sacrifice fly in the top of the first put Northside up 2-0 after the initial inning. Hicks, though getting in just a couple other jams she got out of, would not allow another run the rest of the way, relying on her defense to help her out.
The Lady Hornets (17-5, 5-1) could not get anything going offensively until the sixth. Senior Marissa Bracey singled to start and went to second on senior Christine Mefford’s one-out single. Hot-hitting sophomore Abby
until the August preseason.
“I don’t really know how far this game will go,” Pittman said in the spring evaluations. “Is it 20 percent of spring ball, do you put that much weight on it? Probably not. We are interested in seeing who plays a little bit better when there’s people in the stands. We’ve tried to do that partially (with fans attendance) with our scrimmages. I think we’ll see some things that we want to see and things that we don’t on Saturday, but I don’t know that it’s going to weigh a whole lot more than what a normal padded practice would weigh for us.”
In seeking the starting replacement for turned pro graduate transfer Feleipe Franks, Pittman said he and offensive coordinator Kendal Briles intentionally have been “hard on the quarterbacks.”
“The expectations are high for them and they are fine with that,” Pittman said.
Third-year sophomore KJ Jefferson and second-year freshman Malik Hornsby have run first and second team quarterback this spring.
Jefferson fulfilled expectations subbing for an injured Franks as the starter running for one touchdown and throwing three touchdown passes among completing 18 of 33 for 274 yards in the 50-48 loss at Missouri.
However until recent practices, neither Jefferson nor Hornsby have passed with the accuracy that Pittman prefers.
“Over the last four practices I felt like KJ’S accuracy has been much better,” Pittman said. “Part of that is the protection’s been better. Part of that is the routes have been run better. But he’s done a good job.”
And Hornsby?
“Malik is pulling the ball down and running the football when things aren’t there a little bit better instead of sitting in the pocket,” Pittman said. “I think we’ve grown. We’re not where we need to be yet, but I think we’ve grown and I think we’ll have a good quarterback room by the time August rolls around.”
Lucas Coley, the January enrolled scholarship freshman quarterback, senior John Stephen Jones and Kade Renfro, the walk-on transfer via Ole Miss, also will be evaluated.
Like all head coaches supervising intrasquad scrimmages, Pittman frees conflicting interests like a better pass rush from his defensive line and better pass protection and a more physical running game produced by his offensive line.
Defensive coordinator Barry Odom and new defensive line coach Jermial Ashley have invoked more 4-line defensive alignments switched from their most used 3-2-5 scheme to improve the pass rush, and Pittman sees three down linemen pass-rush improvement over last year.
“We’ve gotten better,” Pittman said. “We can actually get some rush in the three down line. Certainly we’re playing more four down line than what we did last year. But I think we’re going to be able to get to the quarterback without bringing linebackers. Certainly hope so.”
A productive offseason under strength coach Jamil Walker makes for a better offensive line on the run,
Pittman projects.
“Our line is much bigger, understands our offense much better,” Pittman said. “So we have made some physical strides on the offensive line and in the running game. A lot of that has to do with the wide receivers blocking as well.”
Receivers, led by junior Treylon Burks, (51 catches, 820 yards and seven touchdowns), appear the deepest part of the offense, and the secondary and linebackers, led by ALL-SEC safety Jalen Catalon, and middle linebacker Grant Morgan, the most heralded parts of the defense.