Lady Hornets end long layoff with loss to NLR

By ROB PATRICK

NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Playing a game for the first time in nearly a month was tough enough for the Bryant Lady Hornets when they finally got on a field at Burns Park to play the North Little Rock Lady Cats on Monday, April 7. It turned out to be another thing altogether to try to get their swings at the plate going while facing one of the state’s top pitchers, Jessica Sheldon.

An all-State performer last spring, Sheldon pitched her team to the Class 7A championship game including tossing a shutout at the Lady Hornets in the semifinals.

Sheldon and the Lady Cats came into the game with a 14-2 record and a No. 4 ranking in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette poll. And they had played since Bryant had, getting in four games at the Worth Invitational Tournament in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Not too surprisingly, the Lady Hornets got off to a slow start on Monday, unable to manage a hit over the first four innings against Sheldon. But Bryant pitcher Christan Kirchner nearly matched her, allowing just one run in the second.

In the fourth, however, an outfield error with two down keyed a three-run uprising by the Lady Cats as they increased the lead to 4-0.

The Lady Hornets responded by getting on the board in the top of the fifth. Kristen Dorsey singled, Kirchner walked and Kim Wilson chased both of them home with a drive off the bench for a double.

And, after the Lady Cats were retired in the bottom of the inning, the Lady Hornets made a bid to cut into the two-run margin in the top of the sixth when Dorsey reached base on an error, Lindsey Cason singled and Kirchner walked with two down. But Sheldon got out of the jam, stranding all three runners.

In the bottom of the inning, a two-run homer re-established the original four-run North Little Rock advantage.

The Lady Hornets made some noise in the top of the seventh but again Sheldon and the Lady Cats escaped and secured the win.

Bryant head coach Lisa Dreher made no excuses about her team’s layoff.

“I think NLR wanted it more than we did,” she said. ”We showed signs of having the drive to win towards the end, but I've told them all year, it has to be for seven innings. We have too many that cave in when things get tough. It hasn't been like that in the past, but that is what has to change if we are to succeed.”

Dreher praised her junior catcher as an example to her teammates.

“Sarah Hart would be one exception of someone who kept the same intensity throughout the game,” she said.

“We will do better in these areas in the future,” Dreher added.