By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Lady Panther softball team added two more wins since its extra-inning victory over North Little Rock last Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the Lady Panthers hammered Mount St. Mary Academy 16-0 at Sherwood Sports Complex. On Friday, they won a nonconference game 13-6 over Wynne at CHS.
In Friday’s game, Cabot piled up 12 base hits while also taking advantage of seven Yellowjacket errors, many of which came in a decisive eight-run sixth-inning.
The Lady Panthers trailed 6-5 going into the bottom of the sixth, but started that inning with three-consecutive base hits, two for extra bases.
Anna Beth Duncan hit a leadoff triple to right field, and scored on a single by Rylie Walthall. Bethany Knowles then doubled to the fence in center field to put runners at second and third. Walthall then scored on a wild pitch, and Knowles scored on a grounder to second base by Grace Neal.
With the bases empty and one out, Hannah Montgomery got the rally going again with a single to center field. AubreyLee and Lauren McCluskey then drew walks to load the bases. Riley Hamilton then came through with a two-RBI double for a 10-6 Cabot lead.
After McCluskey’s courtesy runner L Smith scored on a wild pitch,
Kaitlyn Campbell’s grounder to shortstop was kicked around, leaving every one safe. Duncan grounded out to second base to score Hamilton. Campbell then scored when Walthall’s grounder to second was also misplayed.
Cabot scored an unearned run in the second after Wynne (12-11) hit a two-run home run in the first. The Lady Panthers then gave up two unearned runs on one hit, two walks and an error in the fourth.
Two Wynne errors led to a double by Campbell and a triple by Walthall to make the score 5-3 Wynne. Three-straight singles put Wynne up 6-3 with no outs in the fifth inning, but McCluskey got out of the jam with three-straight outs.
Hamilton hit a two-RBI double in the bottom of the fifth to pull the Lady Panthers to within 6-5.
Walthall went 3 for 5 with a triple and two RBIs. Hamilton went 3 for 4 with two doubles and four RBIs. Duncan was 2 for 4 at the plate with a double and a triple and one RBI.
McCluskey went the distance in the circle. She gave up eight hits and four earned runs while striking out four and walking one.
Cabot (18-3, 7-1) scored 11 runs in the second inning in Wednesday’s victory over MSM (3-8, 1-6), then added four more in the third to end the game early despite just six base hits. McCluskey threw a no-hitter over the three-inning outing. She struck out five and walked zero.
Montgomery and Walthall had three RBIs each and were the only players with multiple base hits.
The Lady Panthers hosted Fort Smith Southside on Tuesday. See a full report of that game in Saturday’s Leader.
