For the first four innings of the opening game of Tuesday’s 6A-Central doubleheader, Northside’s bats were stymied.

The Lady Bears just needed a big break to get things going.

Hannah Entrekin provided just that, lofting a double which barely landed fair inside the left-field line to lead off the fifth inning. That ignited a five-run outburst, as the Lady Bears seized command to eventually post a 6-2 win against Little Rock Central at Grizzly Field.

In the second game, however, the Lady Tigers rallied from a 3-0 deficit to earn a split with a 6-4 win. That also resulted in a tie for fifth place in the conference between Northside (8-10, 3-6) and Central (9-10, 3-6).

Northside will travel to play Mount St. Mary at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

The Lady Bears had difficulty to start Tuesday’s opening game as they had to deal with the unorthodox pitching style of Little Rock Central’s Andie Priest. Northside was also dealing with the loss of one of its go-to players, shortstop and back-up pitcher Mairady Dempsey, who is out indefinitely with a knee injury, so coach Kelly Nickell had to switch things in the line-up.

Finally, with the Lady Bears down 1-0 entering the last of the fifth, Entrekin came up and lifted a ball which appeared to go foul. However, it landed fair on the grass and Entrekin made it to second with a double.

“The timing on the pitchers have been a little different, and (Priest) has been a little different than past pitchers we’ve seen speedwise. ... It was a good placement of the ball,” Entrekin said.

“We were having trouble getting our bats started because again, the pitcher’s a little bit different than what we’ve been seeing. I think we just needed a nice, solid base hit to get the inning started and score some runs.”

Nickell also went to a different strategy.

Following Entrekin’s double, three-hole and power hitter Chloe Ray came up. But Nickell called for a bunt and Ray delivered just that, sending Entrekin to third.

Then the next batter, Danessa Teague, laid down a bunt of her own to bring Entrekin home, tying the score. There was an error on the play, which allowed Teague to safely reach first.

Jenna Wilson drew a walk, and then Nickell called for a double steal, which was successfully executed, with Teague stealing third and Wilson stealing second. Aleigha Harrison brought home Teague with an RBI groundout to second, giving Northside a 2-1 lead.

“The dynamic took us a little bit; we’ve always had trouble with (Priest’s) timing every time we’ve hit her, it’s always taken us four or five innings to get her timing down for some reason. ... It took them a minute to get started, but I was very proud of their perseverance and the dugout kept them up,” Nickell said.

“It just took that spark, and so we needed Hannah to do that and I’m very proud of her.”


The Lady Bears then got insurance in the same inning.

Maddy Worden hit a single over shortstop to score Wilson. Then with two on and two out, Shanoe Teague laced a triple up the alley in right center, bring both runners home to extend the lead to 5-1.

Northside added its last run in the bottom of the sixth when Worden drew a bases-loaded walk.

Entrekin ended up going 3-for-4 with two runs scored, while Shanoe Teague went 2-for-3.

Cailin Massey went all seven innings in the circle for the win. She allowed two earned runs on five hits, striking out six.

Mackenzie Whisnant was 2-for-3, including a solo home run in the top of the sixth, for the Lady Tigers, and scored both her team’s runs.

LR Central 6, Northside 4

GAME 2 — The Lady Bears grabbed a 3-0 lead in the fourth, but the Lady Tigers tied the score with three runs in the bottom of the fourth; then added three more runs in the fifth to force the split of the doubleheader.

Jenna Wilson was 3-for-3 with an RBI while Danessa Teague went 3-for-4 with a triple, and RBI and a run scored. Chloe Ray was 2-for-4 as well for the Lady Bears.
