SPEED ZONE: Lady Panthers race to win
MARTIN COUCH Sports editor

IN THE PARK KEVIN NAGLE PHOTO Benton Lady Panther Ashley Martindale crosses the plate after hitting a two-run inside-the-park homer against the Hope Lady Bobcats.

The Benton Lady Panthers are fast; just ask the Hope Lady Bobcats and the Beebe Lady Badgers.

Those two opponents felt the speed of the Lady Panthers more than once. Benton beat Hope 9-6 and defeated Beebe in the Conway Lady Wampus Cat Invitational Tournament 6-5 in a tiebreaker.

"We're 6-4, but we haven't been able to play any games," said Lady Panthers head coach Eric Ryan. "We don't play anybody for a week, but we put together a pretty stiff schedule and our girls are improving. They are learning and doing a good job. We'll be fine by the end of the year. Our girls are competitive and if anyone hasn't been out to watch them, they are fun. Those suckers can run."

Ashley Martindale might be the fastest of any of the Lady Panthers. The sophomore leadoff batter had an insidethe park homer against the Lady Bobcats and stole four bases in the Conway tournament.

The Lady Panthers won't be in action again until Monday at North Little Rock. In the meantime, the Benton junior varsity and freshman team played Harmony Grove and Sheridan. However, Ryan emphasized the importance of the competition level the Lady Panthers saw in the invitational tournament.

"It was good for us," Ryan said. "We saw a lot of good ball clubs and did a lot of different things. We played good ball at times. Our main thing is we have to focus and put together a whole game. We'll be ready."

The Lady Panthers saw Bentonville, Fayetteville, Conway, Beebe and Farmington in the Conway tournament.

"I guarantee, in that tournament, you had the top competition in the state," Ryan said. "There was more competition in that tournament than there will be at the state tournament overall. It was good for us. We saw some real good ball."

The weekend was profitable for a couple of reasons for Benton. First and foremost, the Lady Panthers now have a steady number two pitcher, with Mandi Haltom getting settled in after coming straight from basketball in the second week of the month. Secondly, Ryan had the team work on batting techniques at the plate.

"We did a few things that we didn't think we could do," Ryan said. "It was the first time we had everybody come up the first time through and got to the plate to bunt from the left side. They showed they could put the bat on the ball left-handed, so now we won't hesitate one bit to flip it around if we need to.

"The basketball girls are starting to play a lot better," he added. "We still have a few looking for their little niche, but they will find it quickly. One thing we did do is get Mandi into a little bit of a groove. She's getting into a rhythm and looked good. Katie Nichols has been doing this from the start and has been doing a good job, but I feel good now about having a solid one and two pitchers."

The Lady Panthers opened the Conway tournament with a 3-2 loss to Beebe. The Lady Badgers scored in the second inning on a walk and a double, and then added two runs in the fifth on three singles.

The Lady Panthers came out to take a 1-0 lead when Martindale led off with a bunt single and stole second base. Katie Mills sacrificed Martindale to third base and Elizabeth Burks grounded out to score her.

The next Lady Panthers run came in the fifth inning when Emily Chastain walked and Livi Meadors came in to run for her. Meadors stole second and scored on a ground ball by Tiffany Pledger.

In the game, Nichols (5-3) gave up six hits, had six strikeouts and walked three batters. Instead of playing Fayetteville in the semifinals on Friday night, Benton played in the consolation bracket against Farmington on a cold Saturday morning.

Farmington scored four runs in the third inning on four base hits, and then added one run in the fourth on one hit to take a 5-4 win.

Nichols pitched the first three innings of the game and gave up four runs on four hits, while striking out one and walking one batter. Haltom came in and pitched the fourth and fifth innings. She gave up one run on one hit and recorded one strikeout, but she walked three batters and hit two others.

The Lady Panthers scored two runs in the fourth inning when Burks got a base hit and scored on a double by Laura Huggins. Meadors singled to score Huggins. In the fifth inning, Martindale led off with a base hit and stole second. Mills singled behind her and Burks drove them both in with a single.

LADY PANTHERS KEVIN NAGLE PHOTOS Above left, Benton pitcher Mandi Haltom. Above middle, Ashley Martindale makes a catch in left field. Top right, catcher Laura Huggins makes a tag; Above right, Katie Mills in center.

In the last game of the day at 3 p.m., the Lady Panthers faced the Lady Badgers again. This time, Haltom pitched six innings. She gave up five runs on 11 hits, had one strikeout and walked two.

Beebe scored three runs in the first inning on two walks, a double and a single. The Lady Badgers added one more run in the fourth and in the tie-breaking inning, but Benton won the game 6-5.

The Lady Panthers started off with two runs in the first inning when Mills singled and scored on a base hit from Burks. Meadors sacrificed Burks to second base and Joanna Curtis singled to score Burks to make it 3-2.

SOFTBALL Left, Benton Lady Panthers first baseman Kara Reynolds makes a grab on a throw to retire a Hope Lady Bobcat. Right, Benton's Laura Huggins gets a hit during the Lady Panthers' win against Hope.

Benton scored again in the fourth inning when Kara Reynolds reached on an error, stole second, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a single by Martindale. The Lady Panthers tied the game 4-4 in the fifth inning when Meadors singled and scored on a passed ball. Then in the tie-breaking inning with Pledger on second base, Chastain reached on an error then Huggins grounded out to score Pledger and tie the game 5-5.

Talor Gortney, who was running for Chastain, stole third base and scored on a passed ball.

"The weather was like it had been all year long - cold and wet," Ryan said. "I know this tournament had some very good ball clubs and our girls played some good ball. Honestly, with us, the time limit on the tournament games hurt us. We couldn't get started in the early innings. We try to get focused early in the game and here in the last ball game, we came out and scored two runs in the first. They were much more focused in the last game against Beebe. That's going to be the big thing with this group - if they stay focused on what they can do, we'll do well this year.

"Quite honestly, in the first two games, our focus wasn't there," the coach said. "We didn't play well as a team. Our defense kept us in the game as long as it could, then later our offense started to click and we played good ball. Every game our girls progressed and learned from it. The girls did what it took and they were competitive. When it came down to the end of the game, they were doing things it took to win. We have to start doing that earlier in the ball game, but they truly competed in the tournament."

Against Hope at Tyndall Park, Benton broke out with a five-run second inning. Nichols reached on an error and Gortney came in to run for her. Bailey Smith doubled to left-center and Curtis hit a grounder to score Gortney. Chastain doubled to left-center to score Smith and Reynolds reached on an error. Chastain scored on a delayed double steal and Reynolds came in when Martindale belted an inside-thepark homer to left field.

Hope came back to score two runs in the third inning, but Benton added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Reynolds walked and Martindale hit into a fielder's choice that got Curtis at the plate for the second out of the inning. Mills singled in Reynolds and Martindale, and then Burks singled and Huggins walked before the inning ended.

Hope added another run in the top of the fifth, but the Lady Panthers answered when Smith reached on an infield hit and scored when Chastain singled to left field. The Lady Bobcats closed the gap to 8-6 with three more runs in the top of the sixth inning.

Mills scored for Benton in the bottom of the sixth after she singled and scored on a grounder by Meadors to make it 9-6.

"We got the hits when we needed them," Ryan said about the Hope game. "Martindale has speed. I'm real happy with things. Coming off of spring break, we got after it. We may not take batting practice again, because of the way we put the ball in play. We were reading their defense well on the bases."

The Lady Panthers still have to make up a 6A-South Conference game against Lake Hamilton.

"We still don't know when we're going to make it up," Ryan said. "We're 1-0 in the conference and both of us are wanting to play it in that last week. Hopefully it will be for the championship."

The 6A state softball tournament will be held in Mountain Home this spring.