Lady Devils walk it off against Blytheville, 10-9

By Billy Woods

WM School District

On Thursday at Tilden Rodgers Complex, the West Memphis Lady Devils wouldn't quit. Then they waited out the Blytheville Chickasaws and the result was a 10-9 victory in walk-off fashion.

A three-spot in the fourth inning helped the Chicks rally to take a 3-1 lead over the Lady Devils, but it could have been worse. Centerfielder Jordyn Hightower made a catch in deep center with the bases loaded to prevent further damage.

It came after the Lady Devils took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning when Kennedie King scored on an RBI single from winning pitcher Bella Hinze, who went all the way in the circle.

West Memphis sliced the Blytheville lead to 3-2 in the fourth when Hinze, leading off, reached on an error by the centerfielder. After Hinze swiped second base, Kenzley Lowe singled her home.

The Lady Devils pushed across two runs in the seventh with the tying and winning runs scored by Haley Williams and Hightower respectively.

West Memphis' eight-hit attack was also aided by 13 bases on balls by Blytheville pitching.

Hinze went 3-for-3 with a triple and five RBI while Lowe, Kayla Shaull and Williams all had two hits apiece. King added a double and second baseman Kolby Garey slapped a single.

"It was another full team effort tonight," said West Memphis head coach Mike Dobbins. "The defense played extremely well. Today's game was highlighted by so many different great individual performances that the player of the game was given to the entire team."

Lady Devils blow past Forrest City 14-1

By Billy Woods

WM School District

Thirteen games into the season and the West Memphis softball team has five victories. A modest total in a broad sense, but it has been a big step up for the Lady Devil program.

On Friday at Tilden Rodgers Complex, the Lady Devils improved to 5-8 with an easy 14-1 victory over Forrest City.

"It's great to get a win after a tough conference doubleheader loss the other day to Batesville," said West Memphis first-year head coach Mike Dobbins. "We are halfway to our preseason goal of 10 wins."

Gifted with 16 walks and four hit batters from a trio of Forrest City pitchers, the Lady Devils used a six-run second inning and an eight-run third to apply the dagger to the Fillies.

The biggest swing of the day, however, came from Kennedi King, who slapped a fastball over the bag at third and into the left-field corner for a grand slam in the third inning.

"She benefited from the friendly bounce off the bag, but it rolled all the way to the fence," said Dobbins. "It was a clean play all the way. Hit it on the ground and run as hard as you can and that's what Kennedi did."

Starting pitcher Bella Hinze went the full four innings and gave up just one hit and she walked just one.

She got great defensive support from shortstop Carli Steele, who made the web gem of the day.

With two runners on base in the third, Steele sucked up a hot smash and saved two runs.

"Carli, defensively, is about as solid as they come," said Dobbins. "The girl that hit that ball deserves to play college softball. She swings it as well as anybody we've seen so far this year. Carli knocked it down and made a strong, accurate throw to first for the out."

The Lady Devils spotted Forrest City a run in the second inning, and it could wrankled the troops. But a fiery conversation from Dobbins righted the ship.

"I don't think we came out ready to play today," he said. "Defensively, we were a little sloppy and it carried over into our at bats. But after that quick conversation we settled down."

n the JV Game, Lady Devils picked up the win 6-0. Jordyn Hightower was nearly perfect in all 3 innings in the circle, while Alena Troxler led the team with 2 hits and 2 RBI. Klarissa Pedroza also picked up a line drive single in the win.

The Lady Devils return to the diamond on Tuesday with a home conference doubleheader against Greene County Tech.

Lady Devils battle hard, but fall to Marked Tree 10-6

By Billy Woods

WM School District

The West Memphis Lady Devil softball team is making strides in the early going of 2022.

Although the strides seem small at times, they are positive steps nonetheless.

And it showed on Thursday afternoon at Tilden Rodgers Complex, where they rallied to tie the game late only to see Marked Tree put up four runs in the top of the seventh to secure a 10-6 victory.

The Lady Devils, 2-4 on the young season, showed a competitive spirit and some toughness, rallying twice from deficits.

"The effort was there," said first-year head coach Mike Dobbins. "Sometimes in softball the players get in a rush to make the plays. Today, we slowed it down a little. Defensively, we were pretty flawless, and that's a good thing. We just had too many walks and too many missed opportunities at the plate."

The Lady Devils got a creditable effort from starting pitcher Bella Hinze, who gave all she could for as long as she could. She was relieved by Jordan Hightower in the top of the seventh after a lead-off walk with the score 6-6.

"Bella just got a little tired," said Dobbins. "But she gave us all she had."

The Lady Devils took a 6-5 lead with three runs in the fifth inning, highlighted by an inside-the-park home run by catcher Carli Steele.

The West Memphis bats showed some life as evidenced by two doubles from lefty-swinging Kayla Shaull, one of which split the left-center field gap and drove in a run. Senior Kolby Garey and Kennedie King had a double each and Kendall Brasfield and Haley Williams each had a single.

"Kayla Shaull battled with two strikes all day," Dobbins added. "Kennedie, who has not been in the lineup very often, hammered a ball that was caught at second base. If that gets through, we score two runs and now we're up two going into the top of the seventh instead of tied. Carli's starting to come alive at the plate too. It's just a matter of time before our bats really get going."

Marmaduke native Dobbins takes over as head coach

By Billy Woods

WM School District

The West Memphis School District put another piece in place Thursday night in its revitalization of the baseball and softball programs by announcing the hiring of head softball coach Michael Dobbins.

The WMSD two weeks ago made the first of two bold moves toward powering up the two programs by announcing the hiring of Brooks Ballesteri to take over the baseball reins.

Last night, it was Dobbins' turn.

The Marmaduke native comes to West Memphis from a 10-year run as the assistant baseball coach at Armorel, where he helped the team to a record of 166-83 with seven district championships, eight regional championships and four appearances in the state championship game with back-to-back championships in 2015 and '16.

"I'm super excited to be here in West Memphis," said Dobbins. "I'm always looking to improve my situation. I wanted a new challenge. I was looking for a change of scenery and a chance to build something.

"The situation I came from (Armorel) the year before I got there they won a state championship, so I walked into a good situation when I got there. I learned a lot, but it's hard for me to take a lot of the credit for what we accomplished, considering the system was already in place. Now I can take what I've learned and my own philosophy and build a program."

The West Memphis softball program has seen some lean years over the last decade, but before that enjoyed an immense amount of success spearheaded by players such as 2010 Arkansas Gatorade Player of the Year Shelby Jo Fenter, who led the Lady Devils to four straight state tournament appearances, including two appearances in the state semifinals.

Before that, pitcher Rachel Waggener led the 2002 team to a deep state tournament run.

"Working with young kids has always been a passion of mine," Dobbins added. "This is a new opportunity in a bigger area and I'm going to try and touch as many people as I can."

Dobbins said his philosophy in baseball was built on speed.

"I love speed, and I love to put pressure on the defense with balls in play," said Dobbins. "I'm not big on fly balls that are easy to catch. Granted, if I've got some girls with power, we're going to try and hit the ball in the gap or over the fence. If we can run hard and put balls in play, not make mistakes...that's how you win ball games."

Dobbins also said transitioning to softball from baseball should be easy.

"Shouldn't be much different at all," he said. "It's a little faster than baseball because everything is a little closer, but the swing's the same, fielding is the same and the throws are very similar. The pitching is the big difference with the different motion, and that's going to be a challenge early on, but I've already begun that study and I think I'll pick up on it pretty quick. It's essentially baseball, but it's faster."

Dobbins said the rebuilding of the Lady Devil program will take time, but that his short-term vision is to hit a .500 record.

"From there, in about two or three years there's no reason why we're not in the state tournament," he commented. "Once you get into the state tournament, with a little luck and the ball bounces the right way...you're only two wins from the final four."

Building a talent pool, Dobbins said, will be his first priority, and it will start with promoting the game of softball in the elementary schools.

"I want to work with Coach Ballesteri, so we can have the same time frame," Dobbins stated. "I want to see baseball and softball go hand-in-hand, so I hope to have a conversation with him next week and both of us implement our plans together."

Dobbins said he will immediately begin work with his current players on a summer schedule of practices and games, possibly through July.

"I think we'll be looking at three days a week workouts and we want to play 18 to 20 games this summer," said Dobbins.

Dobbins comes with a West Memphis connection already in place. He is married to the former Alden Ashley, whose father Bobby was the head girls basketball coach for West Memphis from 1992-95 and whose mother Karen is a 1980 graduate of WMHS.

The couple have one daughter, Avery.

Lady Devils off to hot start, winning first three in a row

By Billy Woods

WM School District

The West Memphis Lady Devil softball team is off to a 3-0 start to the season with victories over Barton, Forrest City and Blytheville.

The Lady Devils crushed Barton 21-1 on opening day, getting three hits apiece from Kayla Shaull, Carlie Steele, M. Cody and Tayler Brossett.

Leadoff hitter Kolby Garey scored four runs and had two hits and two RBI while Shaull and Steele drove in a team-high six runs apiece.

Other players with two hits included Lauren Walls and Lakiyah Hatchett. Cody went three innings to get the pitching victory.

The Lady Devils also pounded Forrest City 17-3, getting hits from Cody, Walls and Hatchett. Cody pitched four innings of one-hit ball for the win, striking out 6.

West Memphis' third lopsided victory was a 19-0 decision over Blytheville as Garey, Shaull, Steele, Brossett and Walls all hit safely.

Cody once again pitched three innings of one-hit, shutout ball with six K's.

Burnett stars as Lady Devils win twice at Wynne tourney

By Billy Woods

WM School District

The West Memphis Lady Devil softball team won two out of three games over the weekend in the Wynne Invitational.

On Saturday the Lady Devils posted a pair of wins, the first being a 3-1 decision over Wynne while also defeating Bolton (Tenn.) 8-3. On Friday night, the Lady Devils fell 11-4 to Barton.

In the loss to Barton, Ta'Nyah Burnett went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate while Kolby Garey and Laren Walls each were 2-for-3. Burnett also registered 5 strikeouts in the circle.

Burnett fanned 10 in the victory over Wynne. Tommie Grace Prater went 2-for-3 at the plate to lead the offense.

In the victory over Bolton, Burnett starred in the circle and at the plate. She struck out 10 and also hit a home run. Lakiyah Hatchett also went 3-for-4 at the plate for the Lady Devils.

West Memphis will play again April 16 at home against Marion.

Lady Devil bats boom in nightcap victory at Blytheville

By Billy Woods

WM School District

The West Memphis Lady Devil softball team crushed Blytheville pitching Monday on the road, giving them a 16-0 victory in the nightcap of a doubleheader.

After falling 11-5 in the opener, the Lady Devils picked up their first win of the season on the strength of an opportunistic offense and the stellar pitching of sophomore right-hander Ta'Nyah Burnett, who struck out a third of the batters she faced on the evening.

In the opener, Lady Devil Lauren Walls went 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and a single while Nevaeh Maloy was 2-for-2 with two singles. Also with two hits was ninth-grader Kolby Garey, whose two safeties went for singles.

Burnett went 1-for-3 with a single and Tommie Grace Prater also was a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate, with both hits being singles.

In the nightcap, the Lady Devils had four doubles from Haleigh Cook, Walls, Garey and Lakiyah Hatchett.

The Lady Devils will face Mountain Home on Tuesday in a home doubleheader before traveling to Greene County Tech on April 2.