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Neelyville, Naylor ride arms into district final
VAN BUREN — It has been said that a good pitcher can carry a softball team a long way.
The Naylor Lady Eagles and Neelyville Lady Tigers did their best to prove that Thursday, getting strong pitching performances in their respective MSHSAA Class 1 District 1 semifinal contests to punch their tickets to Friday’s championship.
Top-seeded Neelyville rolled past host Van Buren 10-0 in five innings, while No. 2 Naylor pulled away for a 5-1 win over Dora in the nightcap at Sterling Field.
Neelyville hurler Payton Reinbott and Naylor’s Alyssa Urich both dominated in the pitcher’s circle Thursday, combining to allow their respective opponents just five hits, two walks and one run to lead their team’s into Friday’s title tilt.
The two schools — which are separated by just six miles on Highway 142 — will play for the district championship at Sterling Field at 5 p.m. Friday. The two schools have met four times this season, with the Eagles winning three times.
Urich allowed just four hits — just two after the first inning — one first-inning run and one walk while striking out four to hold off the Falcons.
“She did a really good job today,” Naylor coach Logan Foster said after Thursday’s game. “She keeps the ball down around the knees. She does a good job — and she’s done that the last six or seven games.”
The Eagles (13-6) trailed Dora 1-0 after 3 1/2 innings, but rallied to take the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Lyndsea Moore led off the inning with a walk, followed by a McKenzie Crofford base hit. Moore tied the game on Whitney Mitchell’s ground ball, then Crofford scored the go-ahead run on Destiny Thomas’s base hit to cap the rally.
Naylor tacked on three big insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Moore led off the inning with a double and crossed the plate on Mitchell’s base hit for a 3-1 lead, then Thomas singled in Mitchell. Thomas capped the rally by scoring on Sarah Sopko’s two-out hit to set the final score.
“It took us four or five innings, but we finally hit the ball hard a few times,” Foster said. … “We did we had to do to score some runs.”
Dora threatened in the top of the seventh, getting a fielder’s choice and a double to put the tying run on deck, but Urich speared a Shauna Lake line drive to end the rally — and the game.
Mitchell and Thomas each had two hits and each drove in a pair of runs for the Lady Eagles.
Reinbott tossed a one-hitter, allowing a single to lead off the game and a fifth-inning walk while striking out 11 to shut out the host Lady Dawgs.
“She was in the zone,” Neelyville coach Cindy Siebert said after the game. “Whenever she’s keeping the ball down and doing her job, she keeps us in every ballgame. She was dominant today.”
Van Buren took a thrilling 6-5 victory over Norwood in the quarterfinal matchup just before playing the Tigers, but the Lady Dawgs could not carry that momentum to a win over the tournament’s top seed.
Neelyville (13-9) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Reinbott singled and later scored when Makenzi Davis’s flyball was misplayed, then took control of the game with a five-run rally in the bottom of the second.
“I was very pleased with the way we came out,” Siebert said. “I felt like today was probably the best we’ve looked coming out from the get-go [in] being ready and prepared.”
Hannah Hover led off the second with a walk, then scored on Reinbott’s triple to make it 2-0. Reinbott scored on a wild pitch, then Lexus Hagood singled in Natalie Akers — who walked after Reinbott’s triple — to make it 4-0. The Tigers tacked on two more runs later in the inning to cap the rally.
Reinbott tripled in Delayni Dobbins in the bottom of the third, then scored her third run of the game on Akers’s grounder for an 8-0 lead.
Reinbott had three hits for Neelyville, while Dobbins and Leah Million each had a pair. Million and Reinbott also drove in two runs apiece.