For their softball season opener of the 2019-2020 school year, the Waldron Lady Bulldogs took on the Lady Sand Lizards at Dardanelle on Tuesday night. After seven innings with the third, fourth, and fifth innings seeing all the action, Waldron went home with a 4-3 win over Dardanelle. Last season, the Lady Bulldogs took a huge 17-9 loss against the Lady Sand Lizards so to say that this victory was much deserved and hard-earned would be an understatement. This was the first time since head coach Bailey Moore started with the Lady Bulldogs in 2016, that they have beat Dardanelle.
Although all of the girls kicked butt to win this battle, it was returning starting senior, Bayleigh Lipham who stole the show. “Bayleigh had an excellent game,” exclaimed Coach Moore. “She led the team with 2/3 at the plate and a 1000 OBP (on-base percentage). She also only had one passed ball out of 120 pitches. Bayleigh was a wall behind the plate!” Lipham also earned a run for her team along with seven putouts while on field duty.
Also returning to the action are juniors Rheagan Sanford and Saige Mahar who each scored a run along with Sanford grabbing two putouts as well as Kadance Espinoza with four. Sophomores Ashtyn Moore, Kelsey Yother, and Jayden Manning combined for a total of eight putouts. And senior Ysaline Beguin picked up an assist. Junior Ashton Young is returning as pitcher this season and she is already off to a good start by keeping the opponents from running her field. Young catapulted out 120 pitches to 33 batters striking out six of them.
“We made some in-game adjustments at just the right time. I moved my previous 2nd baseman, Jayden Manning, to left field and she made a diving catch to hold runners and keep us in the game. I also moved my centerfielder, Ashtyn Moore, to right and she made a huge play taking the ball off of a hop and throwing the tying run out at home along with several other good catches! We struggled at the plate. We did just enough to keep us alive but we were sure rusty, to say the least. We faced a very good Dardanelle pitcher and she picked on some of our weaknesses. We plan to continue working on our offense and getting some practice in new defensive positions. The weather hasn’t allowed us to be outside much and it sure showed but this team has grit. We plan to keep improving from here on out!”
It’s back on the road again for the Lady Bulldogs as they prepare to take on the Booneville Lady Bearcats on Thursday, March 5 at 4:30 p.m.
