By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Chyna Davis’ best defensive effort was not enough for Jacksonville, as visiting Searcy claimed a 7-1, 6A-East Conference victory at Dupree Park on Thursday.
Davis, the Lady Red Devils’ senior shortstop, single-handedly retired Searcy in the top of the fifth inning by fielding a jagged grounder and catching two pop-ups. She prevented the Lady Lions (18-5, 7-0) from adding two more runs in the top of the seventh with twomore stops that included an off-balance assist to second on a fielder’s choice.
Searcy scored four runs in the top of the third inning and three more in the seventh, and committed two errors, one of which led to Jacksonville’s only score.
“We started out slow,” Lady Lions coach Chris Cope said. “Then we kind of got some breaks, got some runners on and made something happen with our bats; put it in play.”
Searcy senior pitcher Amber Rollins struck out 13 and took a no-hitter into the seventh. Victoria Cummings hit a single bloop over shortstop in the bottom of the seventh with two outs to break up Rollins’ bid.
Rollins struck out six Jacksonville batters in order to open the game.
“She threw a no-hitter yesterday,” Cope said. “She’s done well all year keeping hitters off balance and doing a good job.”
Jacksonville junior pitcher Whitney House held her own against the more experienced Rollins through two innings despite giving up a pair of walks in the first. But Searcy hit two singles and took advantage of two Lady Red Devils errors in the third to take a 4-0 lead.
The Lady Devils got one run back in the bottom of the third, but couldn’t get into scoring position the rest of the way.
“We kept it close until the sixth, maybe the seventh,” Jacksonville interim coach Kevin Sullivan said. “She’s a good pitcher. She’s one of the better ones we’ve seen so far, not that we’ve seen some bad ones, but our conference is kind of up and down from what I’ve noticed.
“Defensively, we really got after it. We had one or two plays that we probably should have made, but as a whole, I thought our defense kept us in the ballgame.”
Jacksonville recovered from a tough third inning to retire Searcy in order in the fourth before Davis took over in the fifth with her strong play up the middle.
“She really got after it,” Sullivan said. “She had a rough day yesterday in practice. She really got frustrated. We do a drill called ‘Perfect 21 outs.’ It’s slated for 20 minutes on our practice schedule — it took about 35 minutes to make 21 outs in a row.
“She really struggled, but she came out and set the tone for us today coming off the frustrating effort yesterday. I was really proud of her today.”
Rollins’ only real miscue was hitting Shyrel McKinney to lead off the bottom of the third. It came back to bite the three-year starter, as Candice Howard advanced McKinney with a sacrifice bunt, and McKinney scored when first baseman Emma Howard committed an error on a bunt by Tyler Pickett.
Rollins helped herself in the top of the seventh with a single, and Lacy Adcock reached on an error by Candice Howard at second. Leadoff batter Amanda Richardson drove in both runners with a triple into deep center and Ashton Harmon drove in Richardson with a single for Searcy’s final run.
The Lady Lions are a point behind Jonesboro in the power ratings despite beating Jonesboro this season. Jonesboro has two conference losses, one to Jacksonville.
Searcy will face Mountain Home at the end of the month in a battle of potentially unbeaten teams.
“We’re starting to come along,” Cope said. “Our bats are starting to wake up a little bit. Hopefully, we’ll keep playing every day and keep improving.”
It has been an up and down year for Jacksonville (5-6, 2-4), which has mixed solid performances with untimely injuries. Alexis House has not pitched all season because of a leg injury, and now, three-year starting catcher Alexis Oakley is most likely finished for the year because of a broken hand.
“I think that this team has a lot of potential, I really do,” Sullivan said. “We haven’t had everyone here for one reason or another. Considering that, we’re not bad.”
