NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Bryant Lady Hornets head softball coach Debbie Stepp, who led her team to the Class 7A State championship, has been named as an assistant at the 7th annual Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star softball game to be held Wednesday, June 23, at 5 p.m.

Stepp will assist head coach Jonathan Crymes of West Memphis on the East squad along with Cary Cossey of Buffalo Island Central and Brian Haynes of Trumann.

By Rob Patrick

FAYETTEVILLE — Debbie Stepp’s “beasts” of Bryant invaded the hills of northwest Arkansas on Saturday and overwhelmed the Bentonville Tigers.

The Bryant Lady Hornets mashed four home runs, three doubles and 20 hits altogether on the way to a 13-4 romp to capture their first Class 7A State softball championship, a day after the Hornets baseball team had secured their first 7A-title.

There had been three State titles for Bryant slow-pitch teams in the 1990’s. In fact, this team, at times this year, hit in fast pitch like it was slow pitch and Saturday was one of those times.

By Rob Patrick

FAYETTEVILLE — So, what did Bryant head coach Debbie Stepp do to follow up the infamous worm-eating episode she used to motivate her Wynne team at last year’s State championship?

“I broke the board,” she stated, proudly.

Balsa wood?

“No,” she insisted. “It was a pine board an inch thick. I’ve got pictures. I really did it. It wasn’t a twig.”

And how was breaking a board in line with her usual innovative motivations?

“I had a 10x12x1 pine board,” she explained. “We wrote the fears (of the Bryant players) down on one side of the board — what they feared about the game. I told them if we’re going to look at those fears, we’re going to stop short of our goal. That it’s okay to be afraid but we’ve got to learn to look through the fears, past the fears and to our goal.

CABOT — There will be no worm-eating.

Last year, Coach Debbie Stepp and the Bryant Lady Hornets both made it to the University of Arkansas’ Bogel Park, the annual site for State softball championships. This year, they’ll go together.

By Rob Patrick

CABOT — As has often been the case for the Lady Hornets this season:

It was only a matter of time.

Bryant fell behind 2-0 to the Cabot Lady Panthers in the first inning of Tuesday’s semifinal game at the Class 7A State Tournament. But there was no panic. It was nothing new.

Time after time this season, the Lady Hornets have scored big late to erase deficits, break open close games or turn a solid lead into a blowout.

CABOT — There will be a whole lot of Bryant descending on Fayetteville this weekend.

A night after the Bryant Hornets baseball team punched their ticket to the Class 7A State championship at Baum Stadium, the Bryant Lady Hornets softball team earned a return trip to the Class 7A State title game with an 11-3 win over the Cabot Lady Panthers.

Bryant will face the Bentonville Lady Tigers on Saturday at 2 p.m., at Bogel Park, home of the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks. Bentonville eliminated defending State champion North Little Rock, 7-3, on Monday. North Little Rock won the 2009 title with a win over Bryant.

Details of the Bryant victory coming soon along with pictures. 

By Rob Patrick

CABOT — Peyton Jenkins allowed just four hits and two of those were erased by doubleplays as the Bryant Lady Hornets began their bid for a return to the Class 7A State championship game with a 3-0 win over the Fort Smith Southside Lady Rebels on Monday.

Cassidy Wilson had two hits and scored twice for the Lady Hornets who improved to 23-2 on the season.

They will play 7A-Central Conference rival Cabot for the third time this season on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the semifinals with the survivor advancing to the State title game in Fayetteville on Saturday, May 22.

CABOT — The Bryant Lady Hornets, champions of the 7A-Central Conference, will open play in the Class 7A State Tournament in Cabot on Saturday at noon against the Fort Smith Southside Lady Rebels.

While Bryant was awarded a first-round bye for finishing atop the league, Southside was advancing with a 3-2 win over Conway on Friday as all the higher seeds won on the first day of the tournament. The win improved the Lady Rebs to 12-13 on the season.

CLASS 7A STATE SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT

At Cabot

Friday, May 14

Game 1 — Russellville (14-11) (Central 4) vs. Rogers Heritage (16-12) (West 5), 12 p.m. (Field 1)

Game 2 — Fort Smith Southside (11-13) (West 4) vs. Conway (6-16) (Central 5), 12 p.m. (Field 2)

Game 3 — Fayetteville (17-9) (West 3) vs. Van Buren (9-16) (Central 6), 1:45 p.m. (Field 1)

Game 4 — Cabot (20-9) (Central 3) vs. Springdale (10-14) (West 6), 1:45 p.m. (Field 2)

By Rob Patrick

Benton was big early and Bryant was big late.

The result was a game that went into extra innings tied 10-10. After completing a wild doubleplay to end the top of the eighth, the Lady Hornets won it on a sacrifice fly by Jenna Bruick in the bottom of the frame, 11-10.

Bryant rallied from 6-0 and 9-2 deficits, scoring five times in the fifth with Jessie Taylor blasting a three-run homer, her 10th of the season. And, in her final game at Lady Hornets’ field, Bryant’s lone senior Shanika Johnson blasted a three-run shot to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh.