Westside, Highland drop Lady Cats in district tourney

When Brinna Crume smashed a two-run homer in the bottom of the second inning to put the Lady Wildcats up 2-0 over Westside Saturday at Trumann, it looked and felt as if Trumann was on their way to their first win in the 4A-3 district tournament. And it continued to look that way for two more innings. But finally the Lady Warriors broke their drought in the top of the fifth inning scoring two runs to tie the contest on their way to the 5-3 final.

"We played well in the beginning of the game," said coach Brian Haynes. "But we couldn't hold on in the end."

Moley Begley put the Lady Cats back up 3-2 when she scored on a hit by Hailey Brewer in the bottom of the inning.

The top of the sixth saw Westside take the lead for good, though when the Lady Warriors first hit a homer to tie the game, then punched across two more runs for the 5-3 final. Neither team scored for the remainder of the game.

"They scored on a solo homer and on some errors of ours," Haynes concluded. "It just showed that we have to play for seven innings to win games."

The win by Westside put them into the championship game Monday afternoon against Valley View with Trumann played Highland to decide the third place finisher.

Besides Crume's contribution, offensively Bailey Ballard finished 2 for 3 while Cecilia Moye, Begley and Brewer were each 2 for 4. Additionally, Brewer hitting a double and while both she and Begley scored a run each.

Brewer took the loss giving up five runs on seven hits and four walks while fanning two.

Highland 1, Trumann 0

"It was definitely a defensive battle," said Haynes following the Lady Cats' loss to Highland in the consolation game Monday afternoon. "We had a chance to tie it in the seventh, but we left Christin (Guthrie) on second."

Guthrie got to second on one of the few wild pitches Highland had on the day. The pitcher made up for it, though, when she fanned Crume and Brewer to end the scoring threat and the game.

Highland scored their one run in the fifth off a bloop single to right field. A bunt by the next batter brought what turned out to be the winning score.

Brewer once again held forth on the mound giving up the one run on two hits and four walks while striking out three.

Trumann managed only two hits with Guthrie and Whitney Holman both going 1 of 4.

The Lady Wildcats will now travel to Lonoke where they are scheduled to take on Heber Springs at 12 p.m. Saturday in the first round of the 4A East Regional.