Lady Panthers fall on road to close conference season
HOT SPRINGS -- The Benton Lady Panthers have been on a roller coaster right in 2024. After winning their second-straight 5A state championship last season, the Lady Panthers are coming back to reality a bit now.
Including Friday’s 5-4 loss at Lakeside, the Lady Panthers have dropped three straight and four of their last five regular season games.
Benton would strike first in the loss, scoring two in the second on an Rbi-groundout from Addison Barger and a wild pitch a batter later that allowed Addisyn Rasburry to cross the dish.
After taking a 3-0 lead in the top of the third, Benton would begin to witness Lakeside’s fierce comeback as the Lady Rams scored three in the bottom of the inning to tie things up.
Lakeside would plate its runs on back-to-back hits -- a two-rbi double and a run-scoring single.
The big inning would be followed by Lakeside taking its first and only lead in the fourth, scoring two on a wild pitch and single in the same at-bat to lead Benton 5-3.
The Lady Panthers would not give up, though, scoring a run in the seventh on an Rbi-single from Audrey Digiovanna. The two-out tally would be the end for Benton, though, as Lakeside held on.
Chloe Bradley and Aubree Jackson led Benton with two hits each in the loss.
Rexie Crane would take the loss from the circle, allowing three runs on four hits in 2.1 innings of action.
Caroline Hicks started, allowing two total runs on four hits through 3.2 innings of work.
The loss moves Benton to 17-10 overall and 11-5 in league action, good for third in the standings behind Texarkana and Sheridan.
Benton will play its final regular-season match on Monday at home against Rogers. First pitch is set for 5 p.m.