FARMINGTON — Tuesday’s Farmington vs. Mena regional softball matchup came far sooner than expected.
In Mena’s 8-7 win over Farmington, the teams were fighting for the No. 3 and 4 seeds for the Class 4A state tournament instead of the top two seeds like many had imagined.
Each team won their district tournaments this year and envisioned the first meeting to be in the championship game of the 4A North Regional tournament.
But Farmington fell to Booneville 7-3, and Mena lost to Pottsville 12-6 early Tuesday, sending the two teams into the consolation game of the rain-shortened tournament.
“We just had a bad game, worse than one we’ve had all year, just couldn’t get an out,” Mena coach Ray Hunter said of the team’s loss to Pottsville.
Mena (17-6) seemed to turn it around against 4A-1 champion Farmington. The Ladycats came out and scored two runs in the first inning and rarely stopped after that.
“We scored in every inning but one, so that was great for us,” Hunter said.
Farmington (22-7) did its fair share of scoring as well, as there were numerous lead changes in the game.
The Lady Cardinals out hit Mena, but made some crucial mistakes both on the field and on the bases that contributed to the one-run loss.
“I thought they hit the ball extremely well, and we matched them up until the seventh inning,” Farmington coach Randy Osnes said. “We made some errors in some key situations both offensively and defensively that ended up being the outcome of the game.”
But when it comes down to it, the seeding doesn’t mean all that much once teams head into the state tournament, Hunter said.
“We’re looking forward to getting into state and making some noise,” Hunter said. “It doesn’t matter once you get to state. It’s win or go home.”
Mena 8, Farmington 7
Farmington 022 300 0 — 7 11 4 Mena 203 111 x — 8 10 1
Smith, Larkin (5) and Lauren
Blackburn; Ward, Hartin (4) and
Self. W - Hartin, 4-2. L - Larkin, 9-2. Sv - Hartin (6). HRs - None.