FAYETTEVILLE — West pitchers Kimmy Beasley, Erin Stidham and Megan Newberry showed why they are All-Stars on Monday night.
The three combined for seven strikeouts in a 4-0 shutout in the first game of the Arkansas High School Association All-Star game doubleheader at Bogle Park.
“I thought the kids in the circle were outstanding,” East Coach Dell Leonard of Mountain Home said. “I was really impressed with the three kids the West threw.”
Beasley, a University of Arkansas signee from Foreman, pitched three perfect innings and struck out three to begin the dominating pitching performance from the West.
“There are some great hitters on both sides of the teams,” Beasley said. “It was good to go out there and get us started.”
Stidham, of Perryville, doesn’t plan to play in college and said she wanted to leave it all on the field in her last game, and she did just that as she pitched two scoreless innings before getting into trouble in the sixth inning. Stidham allowed back-to-back singles with two outs before inducing a ground ball to end one of the few East scoring threats and ended up earning the victory.
Fayetteville’s Megan Newberry closed out the game in the seventh inning by adding the final scoreless inning.
West Coach Eddie Woodhall of Sheridan didn’t have the opportunity to see all three of the pitchers he used in the game this season, but he was impressed by their performances Monday.
“That’s the first time I’ve seen two of them, but they were really in command most of the time and had them off balance,” Woodhall said.
Megan Murray of Nemo Vista singled for the West in the fifth inning to drive in Morrilton’s Caitlyn Cooksey, who started the inning with a double and stole third base.
A three-run, three-hit inning in the seventh broke open the game for the West. Jordan Jones of Sheridan singled home a run and Murray later reached on an error, which allowed two more runs to score.
EAST 12, WEST 5
The East scored five runs in the sixth inning and never looked back as it avoided a sweep with a victory in the second game.
Kara House of Star City scored the deciding run during the East team’s rally when Shelby Upshaw of Mountain Home reached second base on one of the six errors the West committed.
Jordan Jones hit a two-out double in the sixth inning to cut the lead to 5-1 for the West, but Mountain Home’s Shelby Anderson got out of the inning with a ground ball and stranded runners on second and third.
The East, which finished with 15 hits, added five runs in the top of the seventh to extend the lead.
Carlee Gibson of Magnet Cove, who played for the East, was named the MVP. Caitlyn Cooksey of Morrilton was the outstanding player for the West, and Tiffany Roby of North Little Rock was the outstanding player for the East.
Sports, Pages 21 on 06/21/2011