Blue Devil softball wins 4-of-5 in busy week back

West Memphis earns first conference doubleheader sweep since 2010

By RALPH HARDIN

ralphhardin@gmail.com

After a fun but less-than-successful week of spring break softball playing in the Gulf Shores Classic, the West Memphis Blue Devils returned to action last week back in their home state to great success, winning four out of five games played, including a 5A East doubleheader sweep of Batesville.

Blue Devils 12, Pioneers 2

In Game 1 of Tuesday’s doubleheader with 5A East foe Batesville, it was a big showing from the Blue Devil offense. Shortstop Presley Kuhn led the way witth three hits and three RBIs.

West Memphis got three in the first and three in the second, but it was the fourth inning where the Devils broke it wide open, when the Blue Devils’ patience at the plate paid off, with four walks as part of a six-run frame.

Pitcher Jordyn Hightower kept the Pioneer bats at bay, limiting Batesville to just three hits and walking no one to complete the 12-2 win.

See DEVILS, page A12 DEVILS

From page A11

Blue Devils 10, Pioneers 8

In Game 2, the Pioneers would not go as quietly. It was a pitching duel for the first four innings, as West Memphis’s Bella Hinze and Batesville’s Meghan Cunningham only yielded a single run each. But the Blue Devil offense came alive in the fifth inning, as West Memphis batted around, scoring eight times.

After Hightower came in to relieve Hinze, the Batesville offense scratched out another pair of runs in the fifth and sixth, but West Memphis appeared to be well in control with a 10-3 lead going into the final frame, but that’s when the Pioneers made a stand.

After getting the first two outs, the Devils could not put Batesville away before the lead shrank to 10-8 with the tying runs on second and third. But Blue Devil coach Mike Dobbins went back to the well, putting Hinze back in to get her own save, as she struck out the final batter to get the win.

The pair of wins over Batesville was West Memphis’s first conference doubleheader sweep since 2010.

Blue Devils 13, Greyhounds 7

The Blue Devils’ road trip continued on Thursday, as West Memphis made the trip up to Imboden to take on Sloan-Hendrix in a non-conference doubleheader.

In Game 1, West Memphis, the Blue Devils did more than half their scoring in the second inning. Down 4-1, the Devils’ offense strung together six hits, wrapped around a pair of walks and a hit-by-pitch, to score seven times. The big blows were a quartet of doubles by Alissa Albers, Emma Emberton, Jordyn Hightower and Kayla Shaull.

Again, Hinze was on the mound, pitching a complete game, including seven strikeouts for the 13-7 win.

Blue Devils 8, Greyhounds 14

The pitching and the defense faltered for West Memphis in Game 2 against the Greyhounds. The Blue Devils appeared to be on their way to a second doubleheader sweep with a seven-run first inning and holding onto an 8-5 lead in the fourth after Albers and Hinze both had bases-clearing doubles in the first frame.

But in the Greyhounds’ frame in the fourth, a series of walks and errors proved to be the Devils’ undoing, as Sloan-Hendrix put up nine runs to take a 14-8 lead. After that, the Devils’ offense went silent. One bright note, sophomore Presley Kuhn came in as mop-up relief to pitch the final inning and a third, her first varsity pitching action of the season. She struck out two and gave up no earned runs in her debut.