FAYETTEVILLE — White Hall junior Sydnee Clark made the most of her chance in the big game.
Clark missed last year’s softball state tournament with a broken ankle, glumly watching her teammates fall short from the sideline. On Saturday, Clark pitched the Lady Bulldogs to a 5-2 victory against Vilonia in the Class 5A state championship game at Bogle Park.
The Lady Bulldogs (26-8) made it a two-sport sweep for White Hall. Its baseball team won the Class 5A title with a victory against Watson Chapel on Friday.
“It feels awesome,” Clark said. “I wanted to have my chance. It was miserable watching my team out there last year.”
Neither Clark nor her teammates were particularly dominating against the Lady Eagles (23-9), but White Hall did everything it needed to do to win. Vilonia had more hits (7-6) than White Hall and Clark pitched through trouble in nearly every inning, stranding six runners.
The Lady Bulldogs’ offense was efficient, scoring in four innings. All five White Hall runs were scored with two outs.
“They got key hits when they needed them,” Vilonia Coach Calvin Robinette said.“That’s the sign of a good team. That makes a championship team when they score when they needed to.”
The Lady Bulldogs opened the scoring with a run in the first when Abby Weaver led off with a walk, advanced to second on a ground out and scored on Haley Baugh’s single to center. Baugh had 2 hits, 1 run scored and 1 RBI and was named the game’s MVP.
The Lady Eagles tied the game in the top of the second. Ashley Lyons led off with a single, moved to second on a fielding error and later scored on a passed ball by White Hall catcher Madison Martin.
The Lady Bulldogs answered in the bottom of the inning when Kayla Reap singled, moved to second on a grounder and scored when Vilonia center fielder Colleen Farris misplayed Jessica Ashcraft’s fly ball for a two base error.
“I told them, ‘I don’t care if we only get one run, let’s get a run. Don’t leave them there,’ ” White Hall Coach Terri Smith said. “We just chip away. We never give up.
“That’s why they say ’Dogs never give up.”
Clark breezed through the third and escaped the fourth when Vilonia’s Audrey Moran was thrown out trying to steal third base to end the inning. The Lady Bulldogs increased their lead to 3-1 in the fourth when Baugh doubled, moved to third on a grounder and scored on Kayla Reap’s ground ball.
The Lady Bulldogs took control in the fifth when they chased Vilonia starter Whitney Price.
Ashcraft led off with a single but was forced out at second on Weaver’s grounder to Price.
After Clark grounded out to advance Weaver to second, Karia Hall tripled to the right field wall to drive in Weaver. Rachel Box followed with a single to center to score Hall and give White Hall a 5-1 lead.
Clark escaped trouble again in the sixth when White Hall second baseman Weaver fielded a sharp grounder up the middle, stepped on second for one out and threw to first for a double play. Vilonia scored again against Clark in the seventh when Catherine Lloyd, who had three hits, hit a home run to left field.
Sports, Pages 32 on 05/20/2012