Though still young players, the North Sunflower Academy softball team is getting seasoned a bit and finding ways to win. The Lady Rebels picked up tourney wins over St. Joe, 4-1, and Rebel Academy, 9-1, and then found a way to win, 6-3, in West Memphis on Tuesday night. There were a few losses scattered in between but Head Coach George Roberson is seeing more consistent play out of his team.
“We pitched good, we hit the ball well and finally started finding holes,” Coach Roberson said.
On Tuesday night, the team traveled to West Memphis and though behind throughout, gritted out the win. Bailey Hewitt was 3-for-4 at the plate, all singles, with four of the team’s six RBIs. And she scored a run. Penelope Patterson went 2-for-4 and Meridyth Scallion went 1-for-4 and had two RBIs and picked up the win on the mound. Samantha Barham was 1-for-3 with a double, Lexi Bowen was 1-for-3 with a single. The team committed only three errors, gave up three hits and struck out six batters.
“Defensively, we were sound,” he said. “We made a few mental mistakes but they were small errors. We were behind but came back and got the lead in the fifth and expanded on it in the seventh. We were down and fought back and didn’t let them score in the last three innings. We only gave up two base runners in the last three innings and one of those was on an error. The girls are coming together and playing hard and figuring out a lot of things. I just wish they’d figure them out quicker.”
The team lost 15-0 on Monday to Tunica in a tough, error-filled contest.
“We didn’t give up but two hits the whole night. The rest of the runs were on errors and walks,” he said. “We can’t say nothing about the pitching but the defense was poor and the offense just couldn’t get it together on Monday night. I told the girls we just used it all up in the tournament.”
In the St. Joe Tournament this past weekend, the team started out with a loss to St. Joe but the game was packed with seven errors. The 9-0 loss was timed out after three innings. All nine runs came in the first inning. From there the Lady Rebels found their defense and offense for two wins and were the tournament victors overall.
In the second game, a matchup with Rebel Academy, the Lady Rebels only gave up one hit and one run in the 9-1 win. Penelope Patterson was 2-for-2 with a double and a single, Baylee Hewitt was 2-for-2 with two singles and Hollie Clem was 1-for-2 with a single. Paisley Grisham picked up a triple in two plate appearances. Meridyth Scallion had an inside the park home run and was 1-for-1 at the plate. Kaitlyn Smither and Lexi Bowen were both 1-for-1 at the plate.
In the final game of the tourney for NSA, the Lady Rebels beat St. Joe in four innings giving up four hits in the 4-1 win. Baylee Hewitt was 1-for-2, Scallion was 2-for-2 with another inside the park home run. Grisham was 1-for-2 with a single, Sterling Luna was 1-for-2 with a triple, Bowen was 1-for-2 with a single, and Maggie Barrett was 1-for-2 with a single. Smither picked up a double and triple in her 2-for-2 plate appearances.
“We are getting more consistent and the players are playing better defense,” Coach Roberson said. “We actually played like a team in that game. They finally woke up and played like a team. I thought it was a very good ball game all the way through. Little things were big and the big things were little to them. They just got out there and played and had fun.”
Coming up, the Lady Rebels will travel to the Sharkey-Issaquena Academy Tournament this coming weekend. Then they’ll travel to Lee Academy (Arkansas) on Monday and then host Marvell Academy on Tuesday. Both are district games.
“We competed with Lee last year and I know we can this year – same with Marvell. The girls just have to get it in their heads that they can play with anybody,” he said. “We’ve got four wins on the season but we’re 0-2 in the conference but we’re building confidence every time we go out on the field.”
