By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Miserable weather conditions did not hamper Jacksonville as the Lady Red Devils thumped Memphis 15-0 at Dupree Park on Thursday.
The Lady Red Devils picked up their second straight 6A-East Conference victory on a soggy field in front of a sparse crowd that braved the cold, rainy afternoon. Two days earlier, Jacksonville defeated Marion 16-15 in similar conditions at Dupree, which seemed to give the Lady Red Devils an edge over the struggling Lady Blue Devils on Thursday.
Jacksonville scored seven consecutive runs without an out and batted around in the third inning.
The Lady Blue Devils put themselves out of their misery later in the inning with an error on Alexis Oakley’s fly to right that scored Shyrel McKinney and Tyler Pickett to make it 15-0 and trigger the third-inning run rule.
“They did a good job,” Jacksonville interim coach Kevin Sullivan said. “It’s funny, because we did this exact same thing Tuesday — the weather was almost identical.
“I felt like when I came into the program that our main problem was mental toughness. And we’ve really been preaching mental toughness, just talking about things like ignoring the elements.”
Sullivan is filling in for longtime Lady Red Devils coach Tanya Ganey, who is recovering from a recent heart attack. Ganey has attended a number of early games but is under doctor’s orders not to participate.
In Ganey’s absence, Sullivan appears to have developed a rapport with the squad.
“They make fun of me now,” Sullivan said. “They laugh and they even say, ‘Ignore the elements.’ Regardless of the temperature or the conditions, we’re going to go after it.”
Junior pitcher Whitney House put in a strong performance during the Lady Red Devils’ brief time on the field. House gave up one hit and struck out three while allowing one walk.
West Memphis leadoff batter Kori Adams was the only Lady Blue Devil to get more than one at-bat.
House’s twin sister Alexis, the other half of Jacksonville’s pitching tandem, is currently on the mend recovering from a knee injury.
“She’s doing a good job,” Sullivan said of Whitney House. “She’s the only one we’ve got right now. She’s really had to carry the load. She’s looked better today than she has all year. She hasn’t thrown bad; Mountain Home got on her a little bit. But she hasn’t thrown bad, our defense has been really poor.
“She’s coming into her own and settling down, and the defense behind her is getting better and better.”
West Memphis gave up seven hits, committed four errors and had nine walks, including five straight in the decisive third inning. Cana Ratliff started out in the pitcher’s circle for West Memphis but quickly gave way to Alexa Carroll.
Bekah Walters started the third inning pitching, but Carroll came on in relief again after Walters walked Haley Hickingbotham, House, Victoria Cummings and Chyna Davis in consecutive order.
“I know they had the long bus trip, and I know that’s rough,” Sullivan said. “Nobody really anticipated it, but I would like to think it did give us an advantage. We’re going to continue to preach it regardless. I really think that most of this game is mental.
“It’s about confidence and believing. If they believe they’re going to be tough regardless of conditions, then that’s half the battle.”
Pickett was 2 for 3 with two runs for Jacksonville. Oakley had one hit but reached on all four trips to the plate courtesy of two West Memphis errors, and a walk from Ratliff to start the game.
McKinney reached on three walks, one to drive in a run in the third.
Senior right fielder Riley Zink also had a single and an RBI while Hanna Zink singled to drive in a run in the third before coming in on Oakley’s finishing fly to right.
The Lady Red Devils are now 2-3 after losing their season opener to White Hall and a 6A-East doubleheader at Mountain Home.
“We’re getting better and better,” Sullivan said. “To be quite honest, our first game out against White Hall was, for lack of a better phrase, a train wreck. We’ve really focused the last two weeks. Took spring break off, came back refreshed.
“We took our time, fielded lots of ground balls, lots of fly balls trying to refocus our defense.”
