Vilonia is taken a little different path to this year's Class 5A state softball tournament semifinals.
The Lady Eagles, the two-time defending state champions, are using a three-player pitching rotation that has them one game away from returning to the state championship game after knocking off Beebe, 6-1, in Friday's quarterfinals at Sylvan Hills High School.
Junior starter Tori Wilbanks worked the first three innings as Vilonia grabbed a 4-1 advantage. Senior Skylar Lee and freshman Paige Kelly then tossed two innings apiece in relief.
"I know people have done it in [the] past,'' Vilonia Coach Kevin Sullivan said. "I did it a few years ago my first year as a head coach in 2014. A lot of people have a go-to that has some experience and we just happen to be in a situation this year where all the experience we had pitching graduated or is either hurt and done for the year.
"To throw one of our kids in and say we need seven innings out of you that is a lot to ask for someone with no experience. We are basically just limiting what they are doing and giving them 3, 2 and 2 and hopefully that gets you looking at someone different every at-bat."
The formula is working well for the Eagles (21-9).
"We've seen all of their kids,'' Beebe Coach Eric Chambers said. "So it was nothing new. We've played them twice. We just seem to play the same way every time against Vilonia."
Vilonia led 4-1 after one inning with seniors Abby Hightower blasting a two-run double and Kortanine Ruhland adding a RBI single.
"We were aggressive early in the game,'' Sullivan said. "We came out, struck it well. Even our outs were hard-hit balls. ... We played great defense behind our pitchers and our pitchers threw pretty well."
Beebe's lone run came on freshman Lexy Lochkart's RBI double.
CLASS 2A
Puckett lifts Poyen
LEPANTO — Poyen is riding the right arm of sophomore pitcher Kindi Puckett. Puckett allowed two hits, and Poyen beat Quitman (20-4), the top seed from the 1AA West/Central regional, 5-0. Poyen will face Spring Hill today at noon. Spring Hill beat Marmaduke 5-1 to advanced to the semifinals. Puckett hit a two-run home run in Poyen’s 2-1 victory over Hazen on Thursday. Poyen (22-6) took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning using back-toback singles from Lacy Beaver and Kaitlyn Black. Beaver scored on a routine groundout by Roo Pumphrey and Black scored on a straight steal from third catching the Quitman defense off guard when Lanie Bennings drew a two-out walk. Pumphrey drove in Poyen’s third run in the top of the third inning with an RBI double as Beaver scored from second base. Madi Wilfong made it a 4-0 Poyen lead in the top of the fourth inning scoring on Puckett’s RBI double. Poyen added a fifth run in the fifth. Puckett allowed only 2 Quitman base hits while issuing 3 walks and striking out 3. Earlier Friday, Spring Hill defeated Marmaduke 5-1 to advance to the semifinals.
Sports on 05/13/2017