FARMINGTON -- Farmington took control early in the first round of the 5A-West Conference Tournament.
Farmington scored four runs in the second inning and eased to a 10-0 victory over Maumelle on Monday in a game called in the sixth inning because of the 10-run mercy rule. Top-seeded Farmington (22-7) advanced to a second-round home game against Vilonia on Thursday and also clinched a spot in next week's Class 5A State Tournament at Sylvan Hills.
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Farmington^140^212—^10^14^1
Almond, Pierce (5) and McNeil; Deveccsery and Reed. W — Deveccsery. L — Almond.
Farmington pounded out 14 hits with each batter in the starting lineup contributed at least one. Eliana Marano, the No. 8 hitter, used her speed to collect three hits.
"In this classification, if you have a hole in the lineup, it's definitely going to be exploited," Farmington coach Randy Osnes said. "We hit some balls hard and put it in play. Eliana Marano is incredibly fast and Anna Bennett did a great job today."
Cleanup hitter Alyssa Reed drove in three runs with a double and two more on a single to help Farmington to a 5-0 lead after two innings. The Lady Cardinals had four hits in the second inning, and Maumelle (12-12) contributed two errors.
"We had to play a perfect game against Farmington, one of the best teams in the state, and we didn't do it," Maumelle coach Jarred White said.
Maumelle had a chance to take the lead in the first inning against Farmington right-hander Paige Deveccsery. Cat McNeil hit a one-out double to right field to put two runners in scoring position, but Reagan Pierce and Irianna Allen both struck out to end the threat.
Deveccsery settled into a groove and finished with 11 strikeouts while holding Maumelle to only one more hit.
"I left it up to my No. 4 and 5 hole hitters after Cat hit one off the wall, and we just couldn't get it done," White said. "We couldn't hit the outside pitch all year and people took advantage of it. That's something we're really going to work on in the off-season."
Sports on 05/02/2017