MONTICELLO — White Hall softball coach Terri Smith wasn’t sure which was more fun to watch — the no-hitter or the grand slam.
Sydnee Clark threw a no-hitter and Rachel Box drove in six runs, including her first career grand slam, leading White Hall to a 5A-Southeast Conference doubleheader sweep Tuesday afternoon.
“That’s hard to pick from,” Smith said with a gazing smile. “I don’t know. That was pretty good for both.”
After winning the opener 4-2 behind a strong pitching performance from Box and some timely Lady Bulldog hitting, Clark turned in her second no-hitter of the season in Game 2, facing two batters over the minimum as White Hall (15-2, 8-0 in 5A-Southeast) blanked the Lady Billies 12-0 in five innings to remain perfect in conference action.
“This feels awesome,” Clark said. “I was just really calm and relaxed and we had some big hits, like Rachel’s grand slam. It’s like our team was really working today.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Clark issued a free pass to Elizabeth Bostian in the third and worked around an error to allow Madelynn Gates to reach safely in the fourth in the otherwise perfect outing, striking out eight along the way, including the final two outs of the game.
“Both our pitchers did a great job today,” Smith said.
Abby Weaver singled to lead off the game and scored on Box’s first RBI hit, a single through the left side. Box then singled and scored in a four-run third when the Lady Dogs batted around for the first of two consecutive innings.
Box then came to the plate with Kayla Reap at first, Abby Weaver at second and Jessica Ashcraft at third with no outs in the fourth. She lined Halley Ryburn’s 2-1 offering over the center-field fence for her 10th home run of the year, extending the White Hall advantage to 9-0.
“First one … I am very excited,” Box said of the slam. “I didn’t know if it was going to make it because it was a really low line drive. I was nervous. When it went over I was like, finally. I have always wanted to hit one.”
Box struck again in the fifth with her fourth hit of the game, an RBI single to plate Weaver, then scored on a double by Haley Baugh. While White Hall was adding to its 12-hit attack, Monticello couldn’t find a hole when it did make contact against Clark, whose velocity was too much to handle.
“We just didn’t hit the ball,” Monticello coach B.J. Jackson said. “I said it every inning that we had to put the bat on the ball. We had to limit our strikeouts. We hit it a time or two but it was right at them.”
It was only the fourth loss of the year for Monticello (14-4, 6-2).
“They are a really good team,” Box said of the Lady Billies. “I was not looking at this game like this (coming in). I knew we had to show up and play. It was not that easy. The first game they played really well.”