BENTONVILLE — Kasey Wood gave a quick answer when asked what position she plays for the 6A-West Conference-leading Bentonville softball team.
“Everywhere,” Wood said, then flashed a smile. “I’m playing outfield, infield … anywhere I can. I really enjoy that. I’ve been primarily a third base/pitcher 99 percent of my life up until this year. Coach (Kent) Early has been putting me at shortstop some. I really enjoy shortstop. It’s really opened a lot of my game.”
Playing a variety of positions is a good thing, because that’s exactly where Wood expects she’ll play at the University of Arkansas — anywhere. The junior lead-off batter is verbally committed to the nationally ranked Razorbacks, but Wood is not being told where she’ll play specifically, she said.
Wood first caught the eye of Arkansas coaches by attending camps. From there, the communication with the staff led to an offer, which was the culmination of a life-long dream for Wood.
“Getting an offer from Arkansas was very humbling and gratifying,” said Wood. “In my mind, that was the final step, committing and saying yes. It was always Arkansas for me, but my whole life has been for that moment, getting that call. So when it was over, it was a really humbling experience.”
With a verbal to Arkansas secured, Wood said she is able to focus on helping the Lady Tigers add to their trophy case this spring. Bentonville (12-1, 6-0 6A-West) is the four-time defending state champions, with the lost season of 2020 the only championship gap.
The Lady Tigers are loaded up and down the lineup with Wood setting the table at the top. She is batting .500 with 18 hits, 7 doubles, 3 triples, 1 home run, 9 RBI and 17 runs scored. She carries a .944 slugging percentage and a 1.488 OPS as an outfielder, infielder and pitcher.
In the circle, Wood is 4-1 with a 0.972 earned-run average and 52 strikeouts in 36 innings pitched. She has allowed just 5 earned runs and has walked only 3 batters.
“She is probably one of the most athletic kids, she and (Kadence) Stafford, on the field at any time no matter who we play, honestly,” said Early. “And she’s versatile because of her athleticism. She has extremely quick feet and quick hands. And she has a strong arm, so she can play anywhere.
“She’s pretty dang good no matter where you play her.”
Wood is rare in that she’s an ace-level pitcher and also the team’s lead-off hitter. Early again referred to Wood’s all-around play as the main factor in moving her atop the Bentonville lineup.
“We were searching for a lead-off hitter and we had tried a couple of different options,” said Early. “We made the move at the Harrison tournament, she came out and got two hits in the second game and we said we found our lead-off hitter.”
Wood is a threat on the bases as well, with eight stolen bases in eight attempts. She also rarely strikes out with an .833 walks-to-strikeouts percentage and just two strikeouts in 42 plate appearances.
Bentonville’s only loss this season came to Class 5A powerhouse Benton last Saturday in a game that was hastily added to the schedule when a tournament in Van Buren was washed out. Bentonville, Benton and Greenwood got together to create a three-team round-robin to replace the tournament. Bentonville committed five errors and lost 8-1, a loss that Wood and her teammates did not digest well.
“I think it’s good for us to face adversity,” said Wood of the loss to Benton. “It helped us to see where we are going to be challenged the rest of the year. So it will let us see where we need to improve, need to get better. I think we can take a lot away from that game. So we’ll learn from that.”
The Lady Tigers were able to move swiftly past that loss and won their two conference games last week, including a big 6-2 win at home against Rogers. And Wood, who started at third base, was right in the middle of it, leading off the home half of the first inning with a ringing double to left-center and scoring the game’s first run.
Anywhere and everywhere, that is Wood’s mantra. She’s already playing for the future while helping her team stay in the present.