SOUTHSIDE -- When freshman Grace Boatright came up to bat in the bottom of the seventh, her Farmington Lady Cardinals were trailing 4-2 with two on base and two outs.
She changed everything on the first pitch she saw, smacking a walk-off three-run home run to give the Lady Cardinals a 5-4 victory over the Brookland Lady Bearcats on Monday in a semifinal game of the Class 4A state softball tournament at Southside Batesville High School.
The win lifts Farmington (25-2) to another state championship game this weekend at Fayetteville. The Lady Cardinals will take on the Pottsville Lady Apaches, who won the earlier semifinal.
The Lady Bearcats (20-8) had the first say in the game when Makenzie McMellon led off with a single. With one out, Caitlin McClain hit a two-run home run for a 2-0 Brookland lead.
The Lady Bearcats doubled that lead to 4-0 in the top of the third when McClain led off with a walk and Helena Garcia followed with another two-run home run.
Through the first four innings, Farmington had three baserunners, none making it as far as second. Remington Adams reached on an error in the second, Cambre Strange singled in the third and Boatright singled in the fourth.
In the bottom of the fifth, Shayley Treat led off with a single. With two outs, Eliana Landwehr singled before Kalley Stout delivered a double to score both runners.
After Brookland went up 4-0 in the second, Farmington pitcher McKenzi Bogan retired the next 11 batters she faced until Gracie Davis began the top of the seventh inning by reaching on an error. McClain was later hit by a pitch and Garcia walked before Bogan coaxed a popup to second base by Keirsten Hammett to end the inning.
Farmington finished with seven hits while Brookland had five, but none after the third inning.
Pottsville 5, Morrilton 3 (8)
The Lady Apaches needed extra innings to defeat the Lady Devil Dogs for the first time in four tries this season.
Pottsville (18-9) broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fifth when it got back-to-back RBI doubles from Shannon Lasey and Abbigale Barton.
Morrilton pulled even in the bottom of the sixth on RBI singles by Shelby Tindall and Madison Mourot.
That forced the extra inning, and the Lady Apaches started it off by scoring three times in the top of the eighth on three consecutive RBU singles by Meghan Pierce, Ally Snyder and Julia Reynolds.
Morrilton got one of those runs back in the bottom of the eighth, but it wasn't enough.
Sports on 05/14/2019