SPRINGDALE -- Springdale Har-Ber needed some offensive production after falling behind by three runs to Fayetteville.
Sophomore Aryn Scoggins responded with all the runs the Lady Wildcats needed.
Springdale Har-Ber 5, Fayetteville 3
Fayetteville^030^000^0^—^3^6^2
Har-Ber^032^000^X^—^5^7^3
Pool and Luetkemeyer; Stockalper and Ray. W- Stockalper. L - Pool. HRs - Scoggins (1).
Scoggins hit a three-run home run and a two-run single to lead the Lady Wildcats to a 5-3 victory over the Lady Bulldogs on Wednesday in 7A-West action at J.B. Hunt Park. With the win, Har-Ber (10-9, 5-5 7A-West) improved its chance of making the state tournament after starting the day as one of five teams under .500 in the league.
Fayetteville (2-7, 9-12) grabbed a 3-0 lead in the second inning on singles by Emily Lyles, Baylee Andrews and Anna Koch and an error at short that allowed a run to score. Har-Ber tied the game in the bottom of the second when Scoggins hit her first home run of the year over the fence in center field.
Scoggins then collected her fourth and fifth RBI of the game when she hit a long single to center to put Har-Ber ahead 5-3.
"Aryn started the year hitting beach balls up there," Har-Ber coach Lynn Lawson said of Scoggins, who batted seventh in the lineup. "She then went into a bit of a slump, but worked through it and came back focused today. She did a much better job at the plate."
Fayetteville put runners on base in each inning but failed to score except for the second. A double play helped Har-Ber in the fifth before the Lady Bulldogs put the tying runs on base after singles by Koch and Megan Luetkemeyer in the seventh.
That brought up Lyles, who bounced back to pitcher Emily Stockalper, who threw to first base to end the game.
"I put us in a bad spot with some pitch calls. It was all on me," Fayetteville coach Jason Shirey said. "We hit some balls hard and lined into a double play, but they tightened up their defense, too. I don't think they made a mistake after the third inning on."
Scoggins' outburst was enough for Stockalper, whose defense behind her improved after a poor start. Heidi Bogle, who recently moved from center field to shortstop, second baseman Chloe Wheeler, and first baseman Kelsey Hamlin each made key defensive plays to keep Fayetteville scoreless after the second inning.
"If we're going make state and compete there, some of these ninth and 10th graders are going to have to play like they're 11th graders," Lawson said.
Har-Ber will continue conference play at Fort Smith Southside on Friday before hosting North Little Rock in a non-conference game at noon on Saturday.
Sports on 04/30/2015