ROGERS -- North Little Rock took a first step toward a third consecutive Class 7A state softball championship Thursday morning.
North Little Rock broke a 5-5 tie with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and Rachel Gregory recorded two of her 10 strikeouts in the bottom of the seventh as the Charging Lady Wildcats defeated Fort Smith Northside 8-5 in a first round game at the Class 7A State Tournament at Veterans Park.
Class 7A Softball Tournament
At Rogers
North Little Rock 8, Fort Smith Northside 5
Northside^003^200^0^—^5^9^2
North Little Rock^100^313^x^—^8^12^2
Green and Banks: Gregory and Escovedo. W-Gregory. L-Green. Sv-none. HRs-None.
North Little Rock will face 7A-West Conference champion Rogers High today at 10 a.m. on the Lady Mounties field at Veterans Park. Rogers (21-7) had a first-round bye. North Little Rock (19-7) and Rogers split during the regular season and the Charging Lady Wildcats ended the Lady Mounties season the last two years in the state tournament, including in the Class 7A championship game in 2013.
"Rogers has a very good team, and it should be a fun game," North Little Rock coach Anthony Cantrell said.
Cassidy Tucker hit a two-out, two-run double in the sixth to give North Little Rock a 7-5 lead and Bailey Harris provided another insurance run with an RBI single. North Little Rock, which trailed 5-1 early, finished with 12 hits as eight of nine hitters in the lineup had at least one hit.
"We did have some big hits," Cantrell said.. "Gregory has been real consistent and she had some big strikeouts."
Northside had nine hits and the Lady Bears had runners at second and third in the top of the seventh but Gregory ended the game with a strikeout.
"I think we played one heck of a game against the defending state champions," said Northside coach Kelly Nickell. "We were ready to play and we gave great effort. We are young and I am excited about next year."
North Little Rock took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Sydney Parr singled and scored on a single by McKenzie Escovedo.
But the Lady Bears took a 5-1 lead with three runs in the third and two more in the fourth inning. Sydney Green hit an RBI single in the third for Northside while Alexsia Banks hit an RBI single in the fourth. Northside runners in the third and fourth inning also scored on North Little Rock errors.
North Little Rock cut the lead to 5-4 in the bottom of the fourth as two runners scored on a two-out error after an RBI sacrifice fly by Morgan Seaton. They then tied the game in the fifth when Ashton Bobbitt doubled before scoring on a wild pitch.
Paul Nielsen can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAPaul.
Sports on 05/15/2015