Marion softball sweeps doubleheader with West Memphis

Patriots get a pair of big wins on Senior Night

By Chuck Livingston

Marion School District

Senior Night is a special event for soon-to-be high-school graduates, and many coaches through the years have shown some level of concern about a potential letdown for that day’s game.

Just don’t tell this year’s three Marion softball seniors, Kelsey Eppes, Anna Hitchman, and Ella McConnell.

Marion softball’s Class of 2024 celebrated their decorated careers at the school prior to the first pitch of Tuesday’s 5A East doubleheader with county rival West Memphis, and the Patriot party continued on the diamond as the Pats swept the Blue Devils in a pair of five-inning affairs, 14-1 and 15-1.

The three Patriot senior softballers took center stage in the first game as Hitchman fired five innings at the Blue Devils, surrendering just one hit and one unearned run with 10 strikeouts.

Eppes recorded two of Marion’s (7-11 overall, 5-5 5A East) 11 hits in the opener, driving in two runs, and walking and scoring one other time. Hitchman helped her own cause by walking twice, and coming up with a hit, an RBI, and a run. Junior second baseman Maddie Cupples rapped out two hits, scored twice, and drove in two runs, while freshmen Kayson “K.

Belle” McClain (3-4 batting in the first game with four RBI and three runs scored) and Kolbie Triplett (2-3 with two runs scored, with an RBI and a walk) also had big nights at the plate.

West Memphis (4-15, 2-8) senior Terra Hardin finished with a hit and scored a run in the first game, while senior pitcher Bella Hinze drove Hardin in.

Marion kept rolling into the nightcap, scoring four times in the top of the first, three times in the second, and four times apiece in the third and fifth frames to pull away for a 17-1 conquest.

Hitchman earned her second victory of the day inside the circle, striking out 11 Blue Devils, allowing only two hits, and one unearned run.

Marion drew 20 walks in the second contest, as Triplett and junior Chloe Miller each coaxed four walks apiece, while McClain, Eppes, Jordyn Stinson, and Kendall Eppes each walked twice. McClain stroked two hits, scored twice, and drove in a run, while Kelsey Eppes delivered three runs and scored twice. Mc-Connell drove in two runs and scored twice.

B. Kinze and Kendal Brasfield recorded the two West Memphis hits in the second contest, while Presley Kuhn scored the Blue Devil run.

West Memphis struck first in the opening game, and the visitors led until the bottom of the second when Kendall Eppes and Miller took oneout walks ahead of a Cupples single, and when Hitchman walked and forced in Eppes, the game was knotted at 1.

Marion took the lead for good when Triplett walked, forcing in Miller, and McClain knocked in a pair of runs with a single for a 4-1 advantage.

A Kelsey Eppes single and a Stinson groundout gave Marion a 6-1 lead after two innings.

McClain led off the bottom of the fourth with a double, followed by a Kelsey Eppes walk, and a deep Stinson fly ball allowed McClain to score Marion’s seventh run, and a timely McConnell hit delivered Eppes for an 8-1 bulge.

A Cupples triple plated Eppes and Miller, and when Cupples scored on a passed ball, the Pats led 11-1, a score that became 14-1 after McClain and Eppes connected on back-to-

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back triples.

Hitchman worked a perfect fifth inning to clinch a runrule victory for Marion.

Marion overwhelmed West Memphis in the top of the first in the nightcap, as Kelsey Eppes delivered Alli Sharp and Triplett with a single, Mc-Connell plated Kelsey Eppes on a fielder’s choice, and Mc-Connell came around on a throwing error for a 4-0 lead after a half inning.

Marion took advantage of five walks in the second, turning the free bases into three runs.

Triplett and McClain took free bases and scored on passed balls, and McConnell chased in Kelsey Eppes with a hit for a 7-1 lead.

Triplett led off the third with a walk, and she scored on Mc-Clain blasted a double to centerfield.

An Eppes groundout delivered McClain as Marion took a 9-1 lead, and Kendall Eppes and Miller drove in runs as the Pats led 11-1 into the bottom of the third.

Marion rallied again in the fifth, as Hitchman plated two runs on a fielder’s choice, Triplett chased in Cupples with a hit, Alexis Jones forced in a run with a walk, and Triplett came down on a wild pitch.

Hitchman struck out the side in the bottom of the fifth to close out West Memphis.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Marion hosts Batesville on Tuesday, April 23 for another 5A East doubleheader that begins at 4:30 p.m. That contest will be broadcast live on the MPAN YouTube channel.