CONWAY -- Hits didn't come easy during Tuesday night's Arkansas High School Coaches Association all-star softball game, but the West team did more than enough to pull off a doubleheader sweep at Farris Field on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas.
The West had just six hits in the opening game but capitalized on three throwing errors by the East to take a 4-1 victory. The East made only one error in Game 2, but it led to two unearned runs and helped the West hold on for a 3-1 victory.
"Things weren't pretty at times, especially the second game, but it was fun and I was very proud of the girls," West Coach Kevin Sullivan. "For a group that only got to practice together twice, they really came out and played well as a team.
"The field is something completely different than what they were used to playing on, but we didn't have many errors and played two pretty solid games."
The West team scored its first two runs in both games off early miscues. In fact, all three of the East team's errors in the opener led directly to runs.
East Coach Chata Hickey said she thought fielding might play a factor in the game considering the lack of practice time both teams had. Hickey said her team practiced about a day and half and had to split time with the West team on Tuesday because another field was too wet to use.
"We didn't get a whole lot of time playing on this turf," Hickey said. "That's the way it is sometimes, but I'm still pleased with the way the kids came out and played. They had about three and a half hours' worth of practice time and didn't really know each other coming in. Overall, I thought they did pretty good."
The West scored first in opener with a single run in the bottom of the second inning, thanks to the base running of Foreman's Skyler Anderson. The Arkansas-Monticello signee was brought on to pinch run for Bentonville's Morgan Vaughan and immediately stole second base. Anderson, who was named the Most Valuable Player, scored moments later on a throwing error to give the West a 1-0 lead.
Another throwing error in the third allowed the West to push across its second run. Hector's Kasey Rook opened the inning with a walk and stole second before advancing to third on an infield single by Greenbrier's Autumn Russell. Rook scored on the play when a throw by Sylvan Hills' Michelle Sorenson sailed over the third baseman's head.
The East got on the board in the top of the fourth when North Little Rock's Kaylie Roberts scored on a wild pitch, but it struggled to get anything else going. Sullivan's team managed just one hit after a single by Bald Knob's Taylor Varnell and had just one base runner advance to second the rest of the way.
The West pushed across another run in the fifth, with Anderson scoring on a double by Mena's Ariel Hartin, and one in the sixth when Russell sprinted home on another error.
The second game started out much like the first with the West taking advantage of the East's miscues.
Russell and Lead Hill's Greer Clouse scored on the game's first error in the opening inning. Bentonville's Alicia Lowery followed three pitches later with an RBI single, giving the West a three-run lead that proved to be too much for the East to overcome despite outhitting the West 7-5.
An RBI single by Beebe's Madelyn Poe pulled the East to within 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth, but that was as close as it could get.
GAME 1
East 000 100 0 -- 1 2 3
West 011 011 x -- 4 6 0
East: Sorenson, Carter (5) and Weaver, Brewer (5). West: Vaughn, Martin (4), Bogle (5) and Eaves, Mulligan (4), Currey (5). W -- Vaughn. L -- Sorenson.
GAME 2
West 300 000 0 -- 3 5 7
East 000 010 0 -- 1 7 1
West: Crawford, Thomason (4), Eaves (6) and Clouse, Mulligan (6). East: Moore, Carter (4), Beaver (5) and Smith, Kuhn (4). W -- Thomason. L -- Moore.
Sports on 06/25/2014