Senior Girls Lead Farmington

Lady Cardinals Celebrate Senior Night

FARMINGTON — Madison Barnes had six strikeouts and all four Farmington seniors had hits in an eight-run first inning to lead the Cardinals past Booneville, 10-0, on Thursday.

“We gave all four seniors an opportunity to start and they took great advantage of it,” said Randy Osnes, Farmington softball coach on senior night.

After the win, all four Farmington seniors, including Barnes, Kendra Center, Brittney Mcmanus and Grace Pike, were presented with framed Lady Cardinal jerseys, something Osnes has done for seniors throughout his career. Osnes said the team raises funds for the gifts during the school year.

“We hit the ball extremely well and the kids played good defense behind an extremely good outing by Madison Barnes,” Osnes said.

Freshman Maria Mcpherson beat a tag and got back safely to third on a short infield popup. The play was big because Brooke Larkin scored Mcpherson on a sacrifice fly and after Jordin Smith walked, Pike belted an RBI single.

A check swing by Oakley Sisemore enabled the sophomore to stay ahead of the count and she eventually drew a walk to load the bases. Barnes drove in a run on a 2-2 pitch, then the Bobcats walked in another run and Mcmanus’ shot to deep center field brought home two more Lady Cardinal runs and a 6-0 Farmington lead.

Mcmanus scored on a wild pitch and Payton Weidner added an RBI single to up the Farmington advantage to 8-0. Mcmanus scored another run in the bottom of the third inning on Kendra Center’s triple. Weidner ended the game in the fifth with a bunt that scored Lindsey Blackburn.

For the game, Farmington finished with 10 runs on seven hits with three errors and only a single base runner left stranded. Booneville managed only a single hit against the solid pitching of Barnes, who finished the regular season with an 18-3 record as a starting pitcher. The seniors went 102-22 in four years, hi-lighted by winning the 2011 state 4A softball championship.

Farmington will host the 4A-1 district tournament this weekend.