District Title Trickles Away For Lady Cards

OZARK CAPITALIZES ON LATE SURGE TO UPEND FARMINGTON

Farmington still hasn’t played a complete game against Ozark this softball season.

In a 9-6 regular season loss at Ozark, Farmington got off to a horrible start and the Lady Cardinals were being blown out before a six-run rally in the top of the seventh-inning made the score a whole lot more respectable.

In the district finals on May 6, the game was much more competitive but this time Farmington couldn’t close out.

The district softball championship was within reach, so close the Lady Cardinals could almost hug the trophy before a late Ozark rally changed the outcome and Farmington settled for second.

In the seventh inning, Farmington teetered on the brink of winning with a 5-4 lead. After a quick out, Ozark rallied with singles by Lexi McClellan and Peyton Timmerman. Farmington then recorded a second out on a fielder’s choice still nursing a one-run lead and had Hayley Smith on the verge of striking out before the Ozark hitter drove in the game-tying run drawing the Hillbillies even, at 5-5.

Still the game nearly went into extra innings with the next Ozark batter, Alexis McCartney, reaching a full-count before squeezing a hit just past the Farmington infield to score Marleigh Dietz and earn Ozark a 6-5 win.

With Lady Cardinal starter Jordin Smith limiting the Hillbillies to five hits in the first six innings, an inability to bring runs across the plate proved costly to Farmington after taking the lead with a four-run fourth inning. Farmington out-hit Ozark 12-9 but came away empty frequently — leaving eight base runners stranded in the game and twice hit into double plays.

Brooke Larkin went 3-of-4 with an RBI and a run scored while Oakley Sisemore was 2-for-4 with an RBI for Farmington. Paige Purifoy had an RBI single that trimmed Ozark’s early lead to 2-1.

Farmington advanced to the title contest with a 14-3 win over U.S. 62 rival, Prairie Grove, who hosted the district tournament on the Lady Tigers’ home field in the semifinal.

With the district loss Farmington entered the 4A North Regional at Mena on Friday as a number-two seed while Prairie Grove also qualified as a number-three seed after defeating Pea Ridge, 3-2, in the district consolation game.

Madison Skelton twice drove in runs with groundouts to help Prairie Grove forge a 2-2 tie with the Lady Tigers allowing both Pea Ridge runs on errors. Then in the seventh-inning, Madison Beaver reached on an error, then stole second and third. From there MaKenzie Terry drove her in for the game-winning RBI.

On Friday, Farmington lost 7-2 to Pottsville, number-three 4A-4 seed while Prairie Grove was defeated 3-0 by Booneville, number-two from the 4A-4 in Regional action.

Farmington owned an 8-4 win over Pottsville in March, which came during a shortened game that went only three innings during the Farmington/Fayetteville tournament. Smith gave up four runs on six hits with one strikeout and a walk compared to losing pitcher, Savannah Gosnell, of Pottsville (8 runs, 1 strikeout, 1 walk). Smith helped her cause in that game by hitting a double and a home run with Larkin and Bethany Doty also driving runs in.

No state champions emerged locally from the 2014 State 4A Track and Field meet held at Heber Springs on May 6. Sixth place was the best showing with the Farmington boys 4x1600 relay placing in that position with a time of 3:35.78. Trish O’Connell also placed sixth for the Farmington girls team in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 17.80 to go with an eighth-place showing in the 300-meter hurdles in 52:10. Abbie Boston, of Prairie Grove, placed sixth for the Lady Tigers in the 300-meter hurdles in 51:13 and Farmington’s Michael Ingram jumped to seventh in the high-jump clearing 5-10.