Players, coaches and fans of Watson Chapel and White Hall softball can generally tell you certain aspects of certain games throughout the storied rivalry between the two schools, such as who was pitching when this happened or hit the home run to win that game.
But one thing nobody seems to remember is when the last time Watson Chapel beat White Hall.
Watson Chapel coach Tracey Easter would like to have that answer come Friday morning after the teams battle it out for 5A-Southeast positioning Thursday afternoon in White Hall.
“I want to be able to say, ‘Yesterday,’” Easter quipped Tuesday afternoon. “I want to remedy that.”
The third-place Lady Cats (21-6, 7-3 in 5A-Southeast) will invade the co-leading Lady Bulldogs’ (17-2, 8-0) territory for a scheduled doubleheader at 4 p.m. with conference positioning on the line, and of course, the usual rivalry that surrounds any Watson Chapel-White Hall affair. Sylvan Hills also is undefeated in the conference.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
White Hall coach Terri Smith says she can recount moments from her prep days as a Lady Bulldog cheerleader in the late 1970’s when Watson Chapel sent a funeral wreath to the White Hall campus the week of the football game.
“Chapel is always a rival,” Smith said. “Even when it’s not a conference game it’s a rival game. It always has been. They brought a “Rest in Peace” funeral wreath to the school … had a florist deliver it. I haven’t forgotten that. I was a cheerleader at White Hall at the time. It’s been a long, long rivalry.”
The Lady Dogs swept the Lady Cats at Watson Chapel last year but the first game of the twin bill was not decided until late in the sixth inning when Kayla Walters scored the game winner on a Lady Cats’ error after Rachel Box belted a ball off the wall to plate the second run and scored the tying run on a fielder’s choice.
Box and Walters will be around again this year as Box is expected to get the nod in the circle in at one of the two games with Sydnee Clark predicted for the second. The duo will likely face Watson Chapel’s Lexie Downing in Game 1 with either Downing or Maegan Greer expected to toe the rubber in Game 2, though Smith said she wasn’t sure who would pitch either game.
“I am not sure who will pitch,” Terri Smith said. “We have been working all of our pitchers this week. I feel like any of our four pitchers could pitch anywhere. That’s just my opinion. I may be biased but I am very blessed to have four outstanding pitchers.”
Easter said she would play it by ear.
“We will probably go with Lexie (Downing) in the first game and go from there,” she said. “We are just going to try to play our game and not their game. We know White Hall is a good team but we are talented too. If we go in there and believe and play the way I know we can it will be a very entertaining game.”
And while the players are no strangers to each other, playing with and against each other since childhood, Smith and Easter go back even farther, entertaining each other, and their fans while in college. And while both would like to see a no-hitter in the future, they both recounted the “No-No’s” from their past.
“We were sorority sisters in college (Alpha Sigma Alpha),” Smith said of their days at Arkansas-Monticello. “We were in an air band together called the No-No’s, a spinoff, though a bad one, of the Go-Go’s. (Easter) was the drummer and she used a milk crate. The keyboard was an ironing board.”
And Smith’s claim to fame?
“She was the lead singer,” Easter said. “And I have pictures to prove it.”