WEST 5-6, EAST 1-10
CONWAY -- There were two outs in the fourth inning when Jazmine Dodd knocked a bases-loaded double to right field, driving in the three go-ahead runs in the West's 5-1 victory over the East in the Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star Game at the University of Central Arkansas' Farris Softball Complex.
The East came back in the second game with enough runs to rout the West team.
In the first game, Dodd (Bentonville West) went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI, which gave her enough respect with the East fielders that they backed up toward the fence during her final at bat in the sixth.
She laid down a bunt single for her third hit.
The game was tied 1-1 when Dodd hit her game-winning double.
"First pitch she gave me was inside, so since the bases were loaded, I figured I would expect another inside pitch and try and power-slap it to get some runs in," said Dodd, who batted .396 at Bentonville West and will play at Tyler (Texas) Junior College next year. "She did and it worked for me."
The West's starting pitcher, Bailey Buffington (Bauxite), earned the victory, pitching 4 innings with 1 earned run, 1 walk and 5 strikeouts.
Buffington went 29-0 with a 0.95 ERA at Bauxite High, which went 35-2 and won the Class 4A state championship in May.
Buffington pitched against her travel ball teammates, Jenna Hipp (Rose Bud) and Leighton Withers (Harmony Grove-Haskell), who went a combined 1 of 3 for the East.
"I felt good," said Buffington, who will pitch at Crowder (Mo.) College next year.
The East led 1-0 in the first, when Macy Jo Moody (Valley View) hit a double to drive in her team's only run of the game.
The East left nine runners on base during the game.
Maegan Ward (Spring Hill) went 1 for 2 for the East, and led off the second inning with a double that hit the left field fence. But Buffington retired the next three batters, striking out two, to end the inning.
That allowed the West to tie the game, 1-1, in the top of the third, when Dodd hit a double and was driven in on an RBI single by Reisa Bakenhus (De Queen).
Buffington surrendered another double in the bottom of the third to Withers, but once again, she kept a run from scoring by retiring the other three batters.
After Dodd hit her three-run double in the fourth, she scored on a passed ball to set the final score.
Dodd was named the game's Most Valuable Player.
The East placed two more runners on base in the fifth, but West relief pitcher Lacey McKenzie (Charleston) left them stranded with two strikeouts in the inning.
It happened again in the sixth, when the East put runners on the corners with two fielding errors, but McKenzie retired the final two batters to keep the East from scoring.
The East saved all its runs for the second game, evening the two-game series with a 10-6 victory to close the evening.
The East scored five runs in the fourth, three on fielding errors. Maegan Ward (Spring Hill) then hit a bases-loaded triple that only drove in two runs because the East hit the inning's five-run cap and led 6-0.
The West also hit the five-run cap in the fourth, with two-run singles by both Anna Griffin (Bentonville) and Macy Belcher (Horatio) to pull within 6-5.
The East extended its lead to 8-5 in the fifth, when Hanna Smith (Bald Knob) hit an RBI double and Macy Jo Moody (Valley View) hit and RBI single.
Leighton Withers recorded the East's final runs by hitting an RBI double, then scoring on a sacrifice hit in the seventh.
Ward and Buffington were named the All-Star Game's Outstanding Players.
Sports on 06/23/2018