Severe weather postpones Arkansas 5A softball championship game between Greene County Tech and Benton

By Kyle Sutherland 

BENTON — It feels like at least once a week during the spring sports season Mother Nature has affected games statewide, and she had to leave her mark one final time before the 2021-22 academic year concluded Saturday evening at the Benton Sports Complex.

In the top of the fifth inning of the Class 5A softball state championship, Greene County Tech was batting with runners on first and second base. Benton pitcher Alyssa Houston struck out Brielle Sage for the first out of the inning and immediately after that Benton High School athletic director Scott Neathery instructed public address announcer Jim Gardner to announce the game was in a 30-minute weather delay at 8:18 p.m. following a discussion with representatives from the Arkansas Activities Association.

Another delay was issued after lightning occurred in the area at 8:30, followed by two more resets before the game was officially postponed until 2 p.m. Sunday.

There was little activity in the first two innings, but Greene County Tech grabbed the momentum when Benton committed two errors in one sequence that ended up scoring Hannah Stallings for the lead, and the Lady Eagles still had Kylie Stokes in scoring position on second base.

A single by Sage advanced Kylie Stokes to third and Stokes scored on the next at bat after Ava Carter flied out to right on a sacrifice to give the Lady Eagles a 2-0 lead.

Lydia Bethards got Benton on the board in the bottom of the fourth just prior to the game delay after she singled through the right side with two outs to score Dakota Hobson who was the courtesy runner for Gracie Redmon making it 2-1.

When the game resumes on Sunday, Zoie Reynolds will be on second base and Kylie Stokes will be on first.