Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Lady Tigers Win Two Straight
PRAIRIE GROVE — The Prairie Grove Lady Tigers (3-4) started last week slowly when they dropped a 7-4 home contest to Gravette on March 18, before their fortunes changed.
Later in the week they recorded a decisive 15-7 win over the Elkins Elks on Thursday at Elkins, then followed that with a 15- 0 home blowout of the Cedarville Pirates on Friday.
Against the Lions on Tuesday, both teams ditched their traditional uniform colors and instead dressed resplendently in different hues of pink to support the American Cancer Society in the annual Strike-Out for Cancer benefit ballgame.
Prairie Grove nursed a 2-1 lead after three innings of play, however a four-run scoring fourth inning by the Lions put the Tigers in a hole that they were not able to climb out of.
“I was really pleased with our effort today,” said Tigers’ coach Dustin Beck. “Today it wasn’t so much physical but instead mental errors that hurt us. The more we play the better we are going to get at that part of the game. I’m still pretty encouraged by what I saw today.”
A couple of Tiger errors allowed the Lions to take a 1- 0 lead in the first frame. Prairie Grove responded in the third in inning when Valarie Sheperd laced a double to left field, then moved to third base when Savannah Stearman reached on a Lion throwing error. Sheperd and Stearman both scored after a miscue by the Gravette shortstop on a ball hit by Allison Skelton, which put the Tigers up 2-1.
A lead-off home run given up by Tiger pitcher Madison Skelton (7 innings, 7 runs, 6 hits, 8 strikeouts, 2 base-on-balls) in the fourth frame sparked a four-run inning and put the Lions ahead 5-2. Prairie Grove cut into that advantage in their portion of the fourth stanza when Madison Cluck belted a single to left field and was followed by Madison Skelton who reached base on an infield single. Both players crossed the plate on a shallow single to center by Sheperd which closed the gap to 5-4.
The Lions padded their lead with one run in both the fifth and sixth innings which allowed them to claim the 7-4 victory.
Sheperd led the Tiger offense by going 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs and one run scored. Madison Skelton also tallied two hits and Cluck rounded out the hit total with one base knock.
Allison Skelton led an offensive explosion by the Tigers in their contest with the Elks on Thursday. The senior collected 4 hits and had 3 RBI’s in the 15-7 win. Anna Kidd helped the cause with 2 RBIs while Cluck pitched in with 1 ribby.
Madison Skelton recorded the win in the chalked circle by twirling 7 innings and giving up just 6 hits, while also striking out 6 Elk hitters.
Prairie Grove closed out the week with a 15- 0, three inning, mercy-rule annihilation of the visiting Cedarville Pirates.
Kidd had an impressive day at the plate with 3 hits and 2 RBIs to lead the Tigers’ offensive beat down. Haylie Dobbs and Madison Skelton complimented Kidd with 2 RBIs apiece.
Madison Skelton also collected her second consecutive victory by pitching 2 1/3 scoreless innings while striking out 6 Pirates.
“I feel like we are going in the right direction, it is just going to take a little patience,” opined coach Beck at the conclusion of the week.