When a team starts out with a 4-3 record, it’s easy to think that they could have a really long season ahead of them. The Lady Tigers faced that exact situation after starting off with a 3-0 winning streak before dropping back-to-back games to Atkins and Quitman. Mansfield rebounded to shock the Ft Smith Northside Lady Grizzlies with a 2-1 win but were slaughtered 10-0 by Mena the very next day. The early inconsistency could have led to Mansfield’s players turning on each other, but instead, the losses brought an extreme focus of togetherness to the Lady Tigers squad.
Photo courtesy of Jeannie Keomoungkhoune
Mansfield’s last loss on the softball diamond came on March 14th. Since that time, the Lady Tigers have gone on to win 18 straight games, gone undefeated in conference play, and have tacked on a 2A-4 Conference Championship, a 2A-4 District Championship, a 2A West Regional Championship and earned a spot in the Arkansas 2A State Softball Tournament as the 1Seed. How’s that for focus? Led by JR pitcher, Alyson Edwards, Mansfield’s immaculate defensive game has held their past 18 opponents to a mere 24 combined points. That’s an average of only 1.3 runs allowed per game. Then there’s the sluggers at the plate. The Lady Tigers outscored their opponents 222-24 in their 18 game win streak. If you do the math, that means the heavy hitting Lady Tigers have averaged an astounding 12 runs per game. The Lady Tigers hot streak has set them up with a 25-3 overall record to this point which is the state’s best record currently in 2A softball.
Photo courtesy of Jeannie Keomoungkhoune
With all of the record setting numbers and on field dominance the Lady Tigers have recently had, it’d be simple for the team to look well beyond their competition in the upcoming 2A State Tournament. If they do that though, they’ll surely fall short of their State Championship goal, and they know it. The Lady Tigers are fully aware that they are in the mix with the likes of Woodlawn (20-8), McCrory (21-4), East Poinsett County (28-6), Mt Vernon-Enola (18-5) and a Quitman team that gave Mansfield one of their only three losses earlier in the season. All it would take is one poor performance and Mansfield would be out of the running for a state title. A poor performance though is something that the Lady Tigers aren’t going to let happen. With the unmatched focus and constant practice Mansfield has going into the State Tournament, they will not go down without at least putting up one heck of a fight.
Photo courtesy of Jeannie Keomoungkhoune
“When outsiders look at our team, they try to find out the key players” said Head Coach Donnie Eveld. “They look at Alyson Edwards, Brooklyn Adams, Kynslee Ward, Cole Smith, Natalie Allison, and Skylynn Harris. All are great athletes, but really, it’s our team as a whole who has been the key to our success so far this season. We’ll have to take the State Tournament game by game and not look too far ahead of ourselves. Every game will be a new challenge, but I think our team is ready to take on any challenge thrown at them in the tournament.”
Photo courtesy of Jeannie Keomoungkhoune
Mansfield will play their Round1 game in the 2A State Tournament against the Bigelow Lady Panthers (8-12) in Greenland on Thursday, May 11th at 10:00am. Although the Lady Panthers have an 8-12 overall record, Mansfield will not take them lightly. Bigelow finished fourth in the 2A-5 Conference which is nothing to shake a stick at. If Mansfield makes it past their Round1 opponents, they’ll face the winner of Thursday’s Spring Hill versus McCrory game in Round2 on Friday, May 12th at 10:00am in Greenland.
