FAYETTEVILLE -- Pitching and defense will usually get it done in softball.
It certainly did Friday night.
Bald Knob sophomore Autumn Humes tossed a three-hit shutout with nine strikeouts as the Bulldogs (26-3) defeated 3A-2 Conference rival Harding Academy 3-0 in the Class 3A state championship at Bogle Park.
"That makes the fifth time we have played Harding this year, and we know how good they are," Bald Knob Coach Nic Clayton said. "We beat them in conference and the district finals, and then they beat us in the regional final.
"I think that turned out to be a good thing, because it made us realize we can get beat if we don't play our best."
Humes never allowed Harding Academy (21-9) to get much of anything going, scattering three harmless singles. Humes also had a double and a single and scored a run on her way to earning MVP honors.
"She has done a great job for us all year, and our defense was solid backing her up," Clayton said. "She knows how to dig down deep when she needs to."
Harding Academy did not play as well as it did in the regional final, Coach Rusty Garner said.
"Sometimes, you know, it's just not your night," Garner said. "Tonight, it was not our night."
Outfielder Taylor Varnell was Bald Knob's lone senior and Clayton said the younger players promised to send her out on a winning note. They made good on that.
Lindsey Duncan led off the game with a single and scored the first run to put Bald Knob ahead 1-0.
That score held up until Varnell drove home a run with a double to make it 2-0 in the fourth inning. Humes doubled in the fifth and scored on a hit by Brook Mason for Bald Knob's final run.
"I tried to just be a senior and encourage the younger girls," Varnell said. "They said they were going to send me out for my last game with a win, and they came through. This is unbelievable."
It was the first state championship in school history for Bald Knob.
"We like to hit the ball, and we try to focus on hitting the ball," Clayton said. "You try to score some runs, and when you get great pitching and defense like tonight, you have a pretty good chance for good things to happen."
Sports on 05/24/2014