SBLive Super 7 Arkansas softball rankings: Repeat state champions dominate final list

By Kyle Sutherland 

The softball season was completed at Everett Field in Benton over the weekend where six champions were crowned, though Mother Nature did get one final jab in, postponing the 5A game to be completed Sunday. 

There were four returning champions, all of which earned another trophy to add to the case with one team winning its fifth since 2016 and another winning its fifth straight.

Here are the final SBLive Arkansas Super 7 softball rankings for the 2022 season. 

6A

1. Bentonville (24-3)

2. Cabot (21-6)

3. Rogers (19-5)

4. Bryant (22-7)

5. Conway (14-12)

6. North Little Rock (17-10)

7. Bentonville West (18-11)

Analysis:

-Bentonville took advantage of an off first inning for Cabot scoring three runs, but that is all the Lady Tigers would need thanks to the arm of Ryann Sanders who struck out 14 batters and was named the MVP of the state final leading her team to a 3-1 win. They are now back-to-back champions and have won five state titles since 2016.

-Cabot played Bentonville as tough as anyone in Class 6A this season in the state title game led by a great performance from ace Akayla Barnard who threw a one-hitter and smacked a home run but were not able to recover from a tough first inning.

-Rogers shut out Conway out in a close 2-0 quarterfinal contest but was not able to duplicate that in another tight game with Cabot falling 2-1 in the semifinals.

-Bryant defeated Bentonville West by five runs in the quarterfinals but defending champion Bentonville was too much for the Lady Hornets in the Final Four.

-Conway played much better during the second half of the season but could not get any offense going against Rogers in the quarterfinals after cruising past Fort Smith Southside in the first round.

-North Little Rock squeaked past Springdale Har-Ber and came to play against Bentonville hitting a two-run homer to take an early lead, but it was short-lived as the Lady Tigers would not be denied another trip to Benton to play for a championship.

-Bentonville West shut out Central to kick off the state tournament but did not have an answer for Bryant falling 7-2 in the quarterfinals.

5A

1. Benton (32-0)

2. Greene County Tech (27-5-1)

3. Sheridan (23-6)

4. Van Buren (20-7)

5. Vilonia (16-9)

6. White Hall (18-9)

7. Greenwood (19-9)

Analysis:

-Benton was down 2-1 in the top of the fifth inning with one out and two runners on when a weather delay turned into a postponement. Once play resumed on Sunday, Alyssa Houston struck out the next two batters she faced, and the Lady Panthers took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth and never relinquished it. Houston finished as the game MVP striking out 10 batters in four innings and allowed no hits. Benton will finish at least in the Top 10 nationally and is 63-0 over the past two seasons.

-Greene County Tech was not intimidated by being on Benton’s home field, nor by all of the accolades the Lady Panthers have earned over the past two years and that showed as the Lady Eagles came out swinging to take a 2-1 lead in the championship game prior to the weather postponement. Though the Lady Eagles had two runners on in both the fifth and sixth innings, they could not overcome the pitching of Alyssa Houston who came out throwing flames when play resumed on Sunday.

-Sheridan ran out of gas in the semifinals of the state tournament and that, plus Greene County Tech executing well, made it a tough Saturday afternoon for the Lady Jackets who found themselves down 6-0 at the bottom of the third and could not rebound following a successful season they were at least a year ahead of schedule.

-Van Buren ran into the buzzsaw that is Benton and just as is for pretty much any team who faces the Lady Panthers, it was just too much. The Lady Pointers do lose three or four key seniors, but with plenty of talented underclassmen on the roster they should be in strong contention to make another deep postseason run in 2023.

-Vilonia earned the biggest upset of the state tournament in Class 5A upsetting previously No. 4 Beebe in the first round with great play at the plate but Sheridan was able to cool the Lady Eagles down offensively falling 4-0.

-White Hall played about as tough with Benton as you could ask, but the Lady Panthers chipped away with a run here and a run there that was too much for the Lady Bulldogs to overcome.

-Greenwood fell in the quarterfinals to finalist Greene County Tech after defeating Little Rock Christian in the first round thus ending the 11-year tenure of Ronnie Sockey who won state with the Lady Bulldogs in 2015.

4A

1. Valley View (25-5)

2. Nashville (26-5)

3. Stuttgart (23-3)

4. Harrison (20-8)

5. Bauxite (26-6)

6. Gravette (22-8)

7. Morrilton (20-9)

Analysis:

-Valley View found itself down 1-0 after the first inning but scored one each in the second and that’s all the Lady Blazers needed as Riley Smith completely shut down the powerful Scrapperette lineup to earn the win 2-1. Smith threw 86 pitches, 70 of them were strikes, and only gave up two hits.

-Nashville had a tough ending to not only a great season, but an incredible run by ‘The Magnificent 7’ senior class who compiled an 86-14 record since their freshman season. The Scrapperettes had a brief lead in the title game but gave it up quickly and were not able to get the bats going from then on.

-Stuttgart scratched and clawed to take down Gravette 1-0 during the quarterfinals in extra innings, and the grind of that game likely was a key reason for the tough day against Nashville in the semifinals falling 10-0 but that does not take away from a great season that saw the Lady Birds win a lot of games against a very tough schedule.

-Harrison was the surprise of Class 4A in the state tournament taking down conference foe Farmington in the first round, the second time they have defeated the Lady Cardinals this year, and then walked off Bauxite 2-1 before falling to Valley View in the quarterfinals.

-Bauxite’s season came to an end in the most devastating way for any player in this game losing on a walk-off to Harrison with a trip to the semifinals on the line after the Lady Miners had escaped a close 5-3 contest with Southside Batesville in the first round.

-Gravette was on the losing end of a hard-fought pitcher’s duel against Stuttgart that went into extras playing seven innings to a 0-0 score after crushing Hamburg 12-0 in the first round.

-Morrilton was down 4-0 after one inning to Jonesboro Westside then rallied in the fifth and seventh to squeak by with a two-run victory. It looked like the Lady Devil Dogs had an upset on their mind after smashing a grand slam against Nashville early in the quarterfinals, but that was short-lived as Nashville rolled, winning 16-6 eliminating the defending state champions.

3A

1. Ashdown (25-5)

2. Atkins (21-9)

3. Hackett (24-8)

4. Mayflower (19-7)

5. Baptist Prep (25-5)

6. Booneville (27-2)

7. Lincoln (29-7)

Analysis:

-Ashdown turned up the offense and played great defense shutting out Atkins 6-0 to clinch the program’s first state title since 2008. Karielle Forbes and Jaela Coleman led the offensive attack for the Lady Panthers as they have all season combining to go 4-for-6, 3 RBI, and 2 runs scored.

-Atkins hung tough in the first two innings against Ashdown in the championship game but once the scoring began for the Lady Panthers, Atkins was not able to stop or match it.

-Hackett earned the biggest upset likely in all of Arkansas high school softball this season defeating defending champion and ultra-loaded Baptist Prep in the quarterfinals but were unable to keep going in the semifinals getting blanked by Ashdown.

-Mayflower has a very bright future ahead and got that success started early by opening a lot of eyes and reaching the state semifinals after coming from behind to beat Smackover in the first round. The Lady Eagles then put up 16 runs to beat Bald Knob before falling to conference foe Atkins.

-Baptist Prep was a shoo-in on paper to win back-to-back state titles with a roster full of college prospects but the talent and will of Hackett prevailed in the quarterfinals and the Lady Eagles were sent home much sooner than anticipated.

-Booneville was playing out of its mind on a 24-game win streak but Atkins had other plans and completely caught the Lady Bearcats off-guard. Booneville is another young team with plenty of great things ahead led by clutch ace pitcher Lexi Franklin.

-Lincoln played extremely consistent all season and continued that in the postseason showing the will to fight, but the Lady Wolves came up just short in the regional championship against Booneville then in the quarterfinals falling by one run to Ashdown.

2A

1. Tuckerman (25-5)

2. East Poinsett County (32-3)

3. Melbourne (19-9)

4. Quitman (18-7)

5. Fordyce (20-11)

6. McCrory (25-4)

7. Mansfield (17-8)

Analysis:

-Tuckerman went off at the plate with 13 hits in the state championship game and scored at least one run in the first through fourth innings. Four Lady Bulldogs had multiple hits and that offensive power along with good pitching from MVP MaKaylie Gist, as well as closing from Kenzie Soden, clinched the team’s second state title in a row.

-East Poinsett County had the bases loaded in the top of the seventh inning with the tying run at the plate but were not able to get anymore on the board after scoring one each in the fourth and fifth.

-Melbourne came into the state tournament with plenty to prove and rode the heroics of Natalie Brightwell both in the circle and at the plate. The senior threw two straight shutouts before the Lady Bearkatz met that fate against conference rival Tuckerman.

-Quitman quietly put together a very good season and responded in a big way after a regional championship defeat to Tuckerman making it to the semifinals where the Lady Bulldogs lost a heartbreaking walk-off loss to East Poinsett County.

-Fordyce played one of the toughest schedules in Class 2A and still managed to eclipse 20 wins. The Lady Bugs earned a win over Cedar Ridge to open the state tournament but was stagnant offensively against East Poinsett County falling 3-0.

-McCrory regrouped following a very tough loss in the 2A North Regional championship to East Poinsett County and defeated Flippin 10-4 to open the state tournament before defending champ Tuckerman crushed the Lady Jags in the quarterfinals.

-Mansfield had a tough start to the season, then got hot at the beginning of April compiling a ten-game win streak that was broken in a 1-0 2A West Regional championship loss to Lavaca. The Lady Tigers recovered to beat Riverside in the first round of state, but all hopes and dreams ended in a 10-0 loss to Melbourne.

1A

1. Taylor (22-2)

2. Greers Ferry West Side (22-4)

3. Wonderview (14-8)

4. Guy-Perkins (13-5)

5. Mt.-Vernon-Enola (16-6)

6. Mammoth Spring (16-11)

7. Armorel (14-12)

Analysis:

-Taylor won the program’s fifth straight state title fueled by big offensive innings in the fifth and seventh along with a strong complete game from MVP Ayla Buford who struck out eight batters.

-West Side fought hard and hung with Taylor in the state championship trailing by just one run after four innings but could not keep up with the deep and powerful batting lineup of Taylor in the later part of the game.

-Wonderview lost a walk-off heartbreaker to West Side after leading in the top of the ninth ending any championship hopes but really turned it up a notch in the second half of the season. With Lydia Polk, Abbi Baker, and plenty of others coming back in 2023 you can expect to see plenty more from the Lady Daredevils.

-Guy-Perkins has been flying under the radar all season, and the Lady Thunderbirds proved they fully belong in the conversation with the top teams in Class 1A. Alyson Rooney was dominant in the state tournament tossing two shutouts against Mount Ida and Armorel. They went toe to toe with No. 1 Taylor tied at zero through five innings in the semifinals.

-Mt.Vernon-Enola scored plenty of runs in the opening round of state against Bradley but allowed the Lady Bears to almost come back and win, escaping 11-10. The Lady Warhawks’ luck would run out in the quarterfinals against West Side.

-Mammoth Spring got better as the season went along and made it to the 1A-2 regional semifinals then turned around and scored 28 runs in the opening round against County Line, by far the most any team scored in all classifications during the tournament.

-Armorel claims the final spot in the Super 7 rankings. The Lady Tigers looked very good in a 11-1 first round state tournament win over Western Yell County, but could not overcome the stellar pitching of Guy-Perkins in a 3-0 loss.