By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Sophomore power ruled the hour on Saturday as Beebe took home first place in its own Beebe/Cabot Invitational softball tournament with a 1-0 victory over Cabot in what amounted to stellar defensive efforts from both clubs during the championship game at Gillam Fields.
The format called for Beebe to host the games in the top half of the bracket with Cabot playing host to the games in the lower bracket. That led to the two hosts meeting at Beebe to decide the winner for the second straight season, and a closely-contested final that required a bit of luck on Beebe’s part to get a runner home.
The game was still scoreless entering the bottom of the sixth inning when sophomore Mackenzie Bingham sent an infield grounder directly over second base, causing the ball to take a wild hop and allow freshman Baylee Halford to reach the plate for the only score of the game. Halford singled with a line drive between third base and shortstop to lead off the bottom of the sixth and advanced to third on a grounder by junior Madelyn Poe.
“For both teams, we saw a lot of different pitching speeds,” Beebe coach Eric Chambers said. “There were a lot of different types of pitchers today, so coming out and hitting the ball all over the place just isn’t going to happen. Those close games just came down to a couple of mistakes here and there, and we were lucky to get a big base hit from Mackenzie Bingham there in the sixth inning after we got a couple of girls on. In fast-pitch softball, 1-0 is about normal for good teams.
“We got a little lucky there, but we needed some breaks really after we got called out a couple of times and we weren’t sure if we were out or not, but anyhow, yeah, it worked out for us.”
The final turned into a pitchers’ duel between sophomores as Cabot’s Kaitlyn Thompson matched Beebe standout Ellie Reaves blow for blow through seven innings. In fact, Thompson allowed only three hits to Reaves’ four, but an error at third and a hit-by-pitch for Beebe batter Calah Hill in the bottom of the sixth created the only scoring opportunity for either side. Reaves also helped herself inside the circle with seven strikeouts while Beebe’s defense went error free.
Reaves got into a bit of a pickle in the top of the second inning when Lady Panthers junior Brandyn Vines singled to second to lead off and advanced to second with a steal. Reaves struck out two batters before sophomore third baseman Courtney Shepard ended the threat with an unassisted fielder’s-choice play for the third out.
“We’re starting one junior, Madelyn Poe, and she did a good job at shortstop today,” Chambers said. “We have all sophomores except for one freshman, so we’re young, and they did a really good job today. We had one bad inning against Trumann where I felt like we didn’t make some good decisions, but other than that, I felt like they played really well.”
The semifinal victory over Trumann appeared to be in the bag early with Beebe taking a fast 3-0 lead and adding to its advantage in the top of the fourth inning with a hit by Poe that scored Mackenzie Free. Shepard and Courtney Caldwell added two runs in the top of the sixth before Trumann got its first score. Bingham put the Lady Badgers’ final score up in the top of the seventh, as Trumann made it 7-2 in the bottom of the seventh and threatened to come back all the way by loading the bases with one out.
“I told them let’s use this to ride, because we’ve got a big week coming up,” Chambers said. “We’ve got Harding Academy, then we play at Paragould for a doubleheader, then at Wynne on Thursday, we had to move that game, so I said let’s ride this thing.
“And it’s good to win your own tournament. That’s twice now we’ve hosted it, and it’s good to win it, makes everybody feel good.”
Cabot got a bye in the first-round when Jonesboro Westside failed to show. They moved to the semifinals to play Nettleton after the Lady Raiders beat Dardanelle 6-4. The Lady Panthers trounced Nettleton 16-0, scoring 11 runs in the top of the fifth inning to blow the game wide open.
