Ulepich homers twice in Heritage win

6A-WEST SOFTBALL ROGERS HERITAGE 8, SPRINGDALE 1

SPRINGDALE — With black wrap- round shades, Izzy Ulepich strikes an imposing figure on the softball diamond.

So imposing, in fact, that she was intentionally walked with the bases empty and her team already ahead 7-0 in the sixth inning. Ulepich still touched home plate in the inning to cap Rogers Heritage’s 8-1 win against Springdale on Thursday in 6A-West softball action.

Springdale probably made a wise decision. Prior to the intentional free pass, the Lady War Eagle first baseman had homered twice and had driven in three runs.

” I went up there with a job to do and I needed to get that job done,” said Ulepich, the Lady War Eagles; sophomore first baseman. “I just went up there to get on base and go from there.”

Getting on base was not a problem for the Heritage seven-hole hitter. She not only got on base, she touched them all with her second multi-homer game of the season.

Heritage coach Rodney Bowen said Ulepich and the rest of his team has put in a lot of extra work on hitting, and that was evident on Thursday. The Lady War Eagles belted three home runs and two doubles.

“We really put an emphasis on hitting and we spend more time on that than we do defensively,” said Bowen. “Our two- strike approach has been a lot better after we revamped it over the off-season. It has paid tremendous dividends.”

Ulepich stepped into the box in the top of the second with the game still scoreless. With one swing the of the bat, that changed and Heritage (12-9, 5-3 6A-West) never trailed. Ulepich crushed a 2-1 pitch over the fence in left for a 1-0 lead.

From there the Lady War Eagles added three runs in the third and another in the fourth for a 5-0 lead, which was more than enough for right-hander Elle Riendeau, who dominated in the circle, allowing Springdale (212, 0-8) just three hits with four strikeouts in the complete-game win.

Heritage needed the offense to overcome a six-error day in the field. Two errors in the bottom of the sixth allowed Springdale to avoid the shutout as the Lady Bulldogs scored on a wild pitch. The damage could have been a lot worse but Heritage right fielder Anna Lee saved two runs with an inning-ending diving catch off the bat of Hailey Mason.

The Lady War Eagles added a single run in the fifth on a solo homer by Emily Carpenter to make it 7-0.

Gabrielle Kelly was 2-for2 with an RBI double for Heritage.

(NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. Wampler) Rogers Heritage infielder Izzy Ulepich (left) tags out Springdale’s Tori Hennarichs at first base in the Lady War Eagles’ 8-1 victory Thursday. Ulepich hit two home runs and Gabrielle Kelly added to the offensive output with a 2-for-2 day at the plate to help Heritage to the wire-to-wire victory.

(NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. Wampler) Rogers Heritage pitcher Ellie Riendeau tossed a complete game in the Lady Eagles’ 8-1 victory over Springdale, striking out 4 batters and allowing 3 hits.