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The Monticello Lady Billies 4A State Softball Championship Tournament run ended on Saturday, May 17, in extra innings against Pea Ridge in the semi-final round.
The Lady Billies would enter the tournament as the number one seed out of the 4A-4 after capturing the 4A-4 regional Championship the week before.
Monticello would face the number four seed from the 4A-1, the Prairie Grove Tigers.
Monticello would send Alaina Lyle to the circle to open their tournament play and recorded a strikeout to begin the contest.
Prairie Grove would get the first baserunner of the contest on an error that allowed the runner to advance to second base and then would steal third which allowed for the first run of the contest on a groundout to first base with Prairie Grove scoring the runner for a 1-0 lead.
The game would remain 1-0 with the Tigers holding the lead until the bottom of the fourth inning when Alaina Lyle connected on a solo home run to left field to tie the contest 1-1.
With the score tied heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Lady Billies would get their lead off batter, Halle Ross, on base on a walk followed by a second walk to Allie Regaladoto put runners at first and second with no outs.
Ross had advanced to second on a wild pitch.
The next Lady Billie batter, Libby Kingston, would foul off her first pitch and then would connect for a three-shot walk off homerun to give the Lady Billies a 4-1 victory, advancing to the second round of the tournament.
The Lady Billies would record four hits in the contest with Kingston going 2 for 3, Lyle going 1 for 1, and Halle Ross going 1 for 2.
Lyle would pitch the complete game allowing one run on two hits, walking four, and striking out 13.
Returning on Friday, May 16, the Lady Billies would face Heber Springs in the second round.
Addi Frazer would get the start for the Lady Billies and would set the Panther batters down in order to begin the contest.
In the bottom of the first, Libby Kingston led off by being hit by a pitch and would steal second base.
Addi Frazer reached on an error that scored Kingston and allowed Frazer to advance to third.
Lyle would connect on a sacrifice fly to center to score Frazer to give the Lady Billies a 2-0 lead.
Kiley Lane recorded a double followed by a double by Ashley Hales to score Lane to put the Lady Billies up 3-0.
Monticello would increase their lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the third inning after Halle Ross singled to score Ashley Hales and a fielder’s choice by Ashlynn Snow scored Bliss Becker.
Heber Springs would get on the board in the top of the fourth after a walk followed by a double and a three-run homerun to cut the Lady Billie lead to 5-3.
Monticello would make it 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Lane would lead off with a single and after the first out of the inning Bliss Becker would advance Lane to third on a double,
Macey Stell would connect on a single to score lane for the 6-3 lead.
In the top of the sixth, Heber Spring would get a lead off double and after the first out of the inning, the Lady Panthers would connect on a two-run homerun to cut the lead to 6-5.
Alaina Lyle, who came in to pitch in the middle of the sixth inning, would get the Lady Panthers out in the bottom of the seventh to secure the 6-5 lead, sending the Lady Billies to the semi-final contest on Saturday.
Monticello would record eight hits in the contest with Kiley Lane going 2 for 3, Ashley Hales going 1 for 3, Macey Stell going 1 for 3, Halle Ross going 1 for 2, and Bliss Becker leading at the plate going 3 for 3.
Frazer would pitch 5.1 innings, earning the win after allowing five runs on six hits, walking one, and striking out five.
Lylke would be credited with the save after throwing 1.2 innings, allowing one hit, one walk, and striking out three.
Returning on Saturday to face Pea Ridge, the Lady Billies would send Lyle out to start the contest and she would strike out the first two Balckhawk batters before ending the first inning on a ground out.
Libby Kingston would lead off for the Lady Billies with a single, but would be stranded on base after three consecutive outs.
Monticello would get their lead off batter on base in the bottom of the second inning after Ashley Hales reached on an error, but she would also be stranded on the bases after three consecutive outs.
The Lady Billies would not get another base runner until the bottom of the sixth inning after two outs when Frazer would connect for a double, but Lyle would fly out to end the inning stranding Frazer at third after advancing on a wild pitch.
Monticello would record two hits in the bottom of the seventh inning.
After a ground out by Lane, Hales would connect on a single and would advance to second on a ground out by Becker.
Macey Stell connected for a single to left field but Hales would be thrown out at home plate trying to advance for the winning run to end the inning.
Entering extra innings with the score knotted up 0-0, a runner would be placed at second base to begin the innings.
Pea Ridge would connect on a sacrifice bunt to begin the top of the 8th inning, advancing the runner to third base with the runner taking the go ahead run on a wild pitch to give the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead.
Monticello would get the next two batters to line out to end the inning to enter the bottom of the inning trailing 1-0.
Monticello would start the beginning of the bottom of the eighth with Macey Stell on second.
Stell would advance to third, however lead off batter Allie Regalado was said to have foul tipped a bunt attempt by the home plate umpire that gave her a strike and forced Stell to return back to second, with Regalado going on to strike out for the first out of the contest.
Ashlynn Snow was successful on a sacrifice bunt to advance Stell to third, but the Lady Billies were looking at two outs with a runner on third.
Libby Kingston would fly out for the third and final out of the contest with Pea Ridge taking the conte4st 1-0 in extra innings ending the Lady Billies season.
With the loss, Monticello finishes the season with an overall record of 22-7.
