Cabot has hit 25 home runs this season, and North Little Rock Coach Anthony Cantrell is well aware of that fact.
"They don't miss mistakes," Cantrell said. "We're going to have to make as few pitching mistakes as possible because they will take advantage of them."
CLASS 7A
Cabot (27-4) vs. North Little Rock (20-8)
TIME 10 a.m. Friday
WHERE Bogle Field, Fayetteville
CONFERENCE SEEDING Cabot: No. 1 seed 7A-East. North Little Rock: No. 2 seed 7A-East.
COACHES Cabot: Chris Cope. North Little Rock: Anthony Cantrell
STARTING PITCHERS Cabot: Kaitlyn Felder (8-0, 0.78 ERA). North Little Rock: Rachel Gregory (16-8, 2.43 ERA).
STATE TOURNAMENT RESULTS Cabot def. Springdale Har-Ber 8-4 and Van Buren 4-0. North Little Rock def. Fort Smith Northside 8-5, Rogers 2-0 and Bryant 6-1.
NOTEWORTHY Cabot defeated North Little Rock twice during the regular season, 6-1 and 6-5. … Cabot junior Kaitlyn Felder was a pitcher as a freshman, moved to catcher as a sophomore and moved back to pitcher late this season because of an injury to senior Megan Goodknight, who is playing first base. Felder has 60 strikeouts in her eight games in the circle. Goodknight leads the Lady Panthers in home runs (9), RBI (44) and batting average (.459). Junior shortstop Heather Hill is batting .427 with 6 HRs and 35 RBI. Junior second baseman Rachel Allgood is batting .377 with 22 RBI. … North Little Rock junior second baseman is batting .466, while senior catcher Mckenzie Escovedo is hitting .430 with three home runs.
Softball at a glance
All games at Bogle Park, Fayetteville
FRIDAY’S GAMES
CLASS 7A
North Little Rock vs. Cabot, 10 a.m.
CLASS 5A
Vilonia vs. Paragould, 12:30 p.m.
CLASS 4A
Mena vs. Bauxite, 3 p.m.
CLASS 3A
Harding Academy vs. Bald Knob, 5:30 p.m.
SATURDAY’S GAMES
CLASS 6A
Sheridan vs. Greenwood, 10 a.m.
CLASS 1A
Concord vs. Scranton, 12:30 p.m.
CLASS 2A
Spring Hill vs. Buffalo Island Central, 3 p.m.
Cabot (27-4) and North Little Rock (20-8) will play for the Class 7A state softball title at Bogle Park in Fayetteville on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m.
North Little Rock is a two-time defending state champion, and the Lady Charging Wildcats have won six titles in the sport that did not become an Arkansas Activities Association sport until 1999. Cabot is seeking its first state fast-pitch title.
"This is the first time our girls have been on the big stage and [North Little Rock] has won it the last two years," Cabot Coach Chris Cope said. "But I think we've made strides. ... Hopefully we've got the nerves out of the way."
Cantrell said North Little Rock's title game experience should not be a factor.
"If playing in state championship games gives some kind of advantage, I'd love for it to happen," Cantrell said. "But this is the last softball game of the year, and if you can't get up for that, then you're probably not here anyway."
Cabot has packed a punch through its first 31 games. Senior first baseman Megan Goodknight has compiled a team-high .459 batting average with 9 home runs and 44 RBI. Junior shortstop Heather Hill has a .427 average, 6 home runs and 35 RBI. Junior pitcher Kaitlyn Felder has five home runs and 33 RBI.
"From one to nine, they swing it well," Cantrell said. "It's not just one kid."
Cantrell said none of his players have more than three home runs this season, but eight of the nine Lady Charging Wildcat starters are batting .307 or better. Junior second baseman and leadoff batter Sydney Parr is hitting .466, while senior catcher Mckenzie Escovedo is batting .430.
"They swing it well," Cope said. "They do a good job at the plate. They can hit it hard or they can play the short game if they have to. They're not easy to put down."
This will be the third meeting between the 7A-East rivals this season. Cabot won the previous games 6-1 and 6-5.
"We always seem to have good, competitive games with North Little Rock," Cope said. "I think this year our defense has played well and we've been able to push across a few more runs than we have in previous seasons. We've been getting the timely hits."
Sports on 05/21/2015