Lady Cardinals Start Season With Wins

FARMINGTON — The Lady Cardinal softball team began the season by posting non-conference wins over 6A Greenwood and former 4A-1 foe Gravette.

FARMINGTON 15, GRAVETTE 1

Lady Cardinal bats made Gravette starter Lindsee LaBrecque rue the day blasting out 11 runs in the first inning en route to a 15-1 non-conference victory on March 12.

LaBrecque only issued a single walk during the 15-run barrage charged against her but neither could she strike out Farmington batters, finishing with just one strikeout.

Meanwhile her counter-part, Farmington starter Mackenzie Sill was striking out four Lions, avoiding walks and yielding only two hits and a solitary unearned run. Both girls pitched four innings.

LaBrecque faced Farmington’s Brooke Larkin and Brandy Wallace twice in the first and got hammered on each occasion. Larkin’s bat produced the Lady Cardinals’ first run on an RBI single, followed by a a two- run double from Wallace. A Gravette error gave up another run and Farmington led 4-0.

Farmington bats did not cool off. Callie Harper blasted an RBI double, then came an RBI single by Brianna Center, and a RBI single from Sara Beth Jones. Larkin came up again and promptly drove in two more runs with a single. Wallace, who tallied six RBIs on three hits, made her second plate appearance of the inning count with a two-run double and later added another two-run double in the third inning.

FARMINGTON 5, GREENWOOD 4

Greenwood’s Sydney Parker, a 5-feet-3 sophomore, showed power by going 2 of 4 at the plate with a homerun and a double producing 3 RBIs; yet Farmington had the last laugh by winning, 5-4, in their season-opener on March 7.

The lead changed hands a few times between the Lady Cardinals and Greenwood. Farmington scored two runs in the bottom of the third and sixth and added one run in the seventh inning. Farmington’s offense started with Bethany Doty getting on board in the bottom of the third. She eventually scored after consecutive singles by Bethany McKnight and Wallace.

Farmington’s early 2-0 lead was extended when Courtney Bodine ( 3-3) cranked out one of her three singles in the fourth inning and Brianna Center drove in a run despite grounding out. Greenwood went in front, 3-2, tallying three runs in the top of the sixth. Two runs scored when Parker went yard with a runner on. The Lady Bull- dogs added one more run in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 4-4.

Farmington’s Callie Harper also had three hits and came up big in the seventh by smacking an RBI single which brought in Larkin with the winning run. Greenwood’s Victoria Taylor was charged with the loss, pitching 6 1/3 innings with 2 walks, 4 strikeouts, and allowing all five Farmington runs. Lauren Thomas finished the game and picked up the win for the Lady Cardinals, allowing one run over 1 2/3 innings. She walked one batter and gave up one hit.

Farmington scored 5 runs on 13 hits and committed no errors. Greenwood scored 4 runs on 7 hits and had 2 errors.

FARMINGTON 5, GREENWOOD 4 — MARCH 7

GREENWOOD 0 0 0 0 0 3 1—4 FARMINGTON 0 0 2 0 0 2 1—5