PEARCY -- Wednesday proved a big day for two struggling teams from the same school.
Bolstering their tournament-seeding possibilities, Lake Hamilton's softball Lady Wolves and baseball Wolves used strong pitching and offensive breakouts to sweep conference games against visiting Texarkana.
Karli Herron, allowing only a sixth-inning unearned run, worked around seventh-inning trouble to cap a five-hitter, the Lady Wolves winning 5-1 with RBI hits from sophomore Jordan Collier and freshman Cindyl Hearne in a four-run fifth.
In baseball, a six-run first sent Chris Eastburn and the Wolves to an 9-4 victory.
They were the third conference wins in nine games for each squad. The Lady Wolves host Magnet Cove today for a nonconference game while the Wolves playing a 7A/6A-South game against El Dorado.
"Big win, with young kids," Lady Wolf coach Amy Teague said.
Besides having no seniors on the roster, Lake Hamilton has lost junior starters Lexi Crone and Sophie Curtis for the season with knee injuries. Teague's team is playing this week without starting junior Madisson Williams.
"Even my older kids are out of their positions, their comfort zone," Teague said. "Even Karli pitching - she's not a pitcher, she's just athletic enough to throw it."
Herron held Texarkana to three hits in the first five innings, the Lady Razorbacks scoring in the sixth on a groundout after Anna Clair Timmons reached on an error and took third on the last of Kailyn Eaves' three hits.
Left fielder Hannah Douglas tracked down a long fly ball for the third out, and Herron got a flyout to freshman center fielder Taylor Steed and groundout to Hoover at shortstop to snuff the seventh-inning threat.
"She's getting better every time she throws," Teague said. "I knew coming out of basketball it would take her time to get going and work through it mentally."
Paige Hoover scored in the second after a one-out double, takng third on a passed ball and coming home on Hearne's ground ball.
Leadoff batter Madelyn Weatherford started the decisive fourth with her second single off Eaves. Herron reached on a one-out error, Weatherford scored on Katie Carpenter's groundout, and Jordan followed with an RBI single to left. Hoover singled to left before Hearne ripped a two-run double to right-center.
"Collier and Hoover have been hitting the ball well," Teague said. "They're providing a spark at the bottom of our lineup. Hearne, she has a great swing and a lot of potential."
Lake Hamilton had nine hits, Collier and Hoover both going two for three and Weatherford two for four.
Texarkana;000;001;0;1;5;3
Lake Hamilton;010;040;0;5;9;2
Eaves and White. Herron and Carpenter. W-Herron. L-Eaves. 2B-Texarkana: Timmons; LH: Hoover, Hearne. SB-LH: Weatherford.
Gip Burrow's two-run double and Drew Dodson's two-run single capped the Wolves' big first inning. The first seven batters reached against Braden Warner, the last five on hits. Eastburn and Sean Faught drove in the first two runs with singles.
"I told my wife and coach (Seth) Reeves if we hit the ball like we did in practice (Tuesday) we're going to score a bunch of runs," Lake Hamilton coach Mac Hurley said. "We came out on fire. ... That's what you look for to start a game."
Sophomore Jacob Treat added a two-run double in the third off Hunter McGilberry, who walked Burrow and Dodson and hit Zach Muldoon with a pitch. After Texarkana (4-5 in conference) scored on a two-out error in the fourth, the Wolves made it 9-1 with an unearned run in the fifth.
The lead held until the seventh, when the Razorbacks scored three unearned runs off Nathan Sawrie.
"We really should have finished them off earlier," Hurley said. "I tell you, I'll take a win any way we can get it."
Eastburn allowed three hits in six innings, striking out three with two walks. He three 88 pitches.
"I wanted him to finish the sixth," Hurley said, noting today's game and Friday's at Pine Bluff. "(Pitchers) get 12 innings in three days. We've got other pitchers that need to step up for us."
Texarkana's seventh-inning runs came on two-out singles by Warner and Brayden Ward.
Lake Hamilton (8-11) had seven hits. two by Faught.
"That was a big win for us," Hurley said. "Maybe it will get us kick-started a little bit."
Texarkana;000;100;3;4;6;3
Lake Hamilton;602;010;x;9;7;1
Warner, McGilberry (1), Chattaway (6) and Martindale. Eastburn, Sawrie (7) and Muldoon. W-Eastburn. L-Warner. DP-Tex. 2. 2B-Tex.: Martindale. LH: Burrow, Treat. SB-Tex.: Boyce; LH: Burrow.
Sports on 04/24/2014