If the 6A State Tournament had started right now, the Southside Mavericks would still be on the outside looking in.

But the Mavs got a huge boost toward their playoff hopes on Tuesday, when they traveled to the third-place team in the 6A-Central, Bryant, and led from start to finish in a dominating 8-1 win.

“The girls came out and they played really hard and they did a great job, they did a really good job,” Southside coach Cassy Story said.

The Mavs (13-11, 3-8) built a 4-0 lead in the top of the second and then broke the game wide open, scoring four more runs in the fourth to go up 8-0 when Hayley Hall cleared the bases with a three-run double.

“Meliah (Hunter) pitched a really good game. ... We had the bases loaded a few different times, and then Hayley Hall came up and had a really big hit for us to score three runs,” Story said. “We also played real solid defense and had a couple of big double plays; (shortstop) Hannah Hogue and (second baseman) Ella Kohler, they did a really good job working together.

“We did what it took to win and fought hard for seven innings.”

Despite the win, Southside still currently stands in seventh place in the conference, with the top six teams going to state. But the Mavs have a chance to make a big move in the latter part of the regular season.

Southside returns home on Thursday to face Mount St. Mary, which has yet to win a conference game. Then next week, the Mavs play two teams just ahead of them in the standings, Little Rock Central (3-7 in conference) and Northside (4-7).

Sophomore Madi Conklin, who went 3-for-4 in Tuesday’s win, leads the Mavs in hitting (.584), on-base percentage (.622), slugging (.935) and RBIs (42).
