By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Last Wednesday, the Blytheville Chicks baseball team was in total command in a 10-4 home win over Caruthersville.
Last Thursday, the Forrest City Mustangs suffered their worst two conference losses of the year, losing to Little Rock Mills 15-0 and 15-3.
Against Caruthersville, the Chicks scattered 10 hits, and sophomore lefthander Joel Huffman allowed only six hits and four runs in his seven innings of work, while striking out seven and walking five.
In the Mills doubleheader, Forrest City pitching, heading into the twinbill with several sore arms, gave up a total of 30 runs on 29 hits.
With the win Blytheville improves its overall record to 7-6 and stands right in the running in the AAAAA-East conference with a 3-3 record.
The Mustangs fall to 2-6 in the conference and are teetering on the brink of elimination with regards to postseason activity.
Not where first-year Mustang coach Reggie Murphy wanted to be at this juncture, especially with doubleheaders against Sylvan Hills, the conference leader and Cabot looming large in the near future.
Today, the Mustangs travel to Blytheville for the second meeting of the year between the two conference foes.
Blytheville won the first conference game played on March 6.
The Mustangs desperately need a win today. While it won't guarantee the Mustangs a postseason berth, a win would go a long way in lifting the team's morale as they head into the final stretch.
A strong finish would be a plus for the program.
Forrest City has not played since Thursday. The Chicks played at the Greene County Tech baseball tournament over the weekend.
Today's single varsity game is set to begin at 4 p.m.
The Forrest City junior varsity will host Barton Thursday before Sylvan Hills rolls into town for a Friday twinbill, beginning at 4 p.m.
Sign-ups for the Palestine summer youth baseball and softball programs will close on Friday, April 20 in the Palestine schools.
If a child was unable to register for the summer program or return their sign-up sheet, a final sign-up day will be held on Saturday, April 21, from 9 a.m. until 12 noon at Palestine City Hall.
There will be a coaches meeting following the Saturday sign-up beginning at 1 p.m., for the purpose of drafting teams, recognizing the rules and rules changes.
For more information about the summer leagues or if you are a coach who cannot attend the coaches' meeting on Saturday, please contact Mark Main, the program director, no later than Friday, April 20 at 581-2948, 240-7312 or 633-7986.
The Forrest City Mustang tennis team heads into the AAAAA-East Conference tournament on a high note.
The Mustangs won four of their five singles matches Monday in final regular season play against Cabot and swept the doubles competition.
The conference tournament is set to be played Wednesday at West Memphis.
The Jonesboro Hurricane are the 11-time defending tournament champions.
The Sylvan Hills Lady Bears are the defending girls' champion.
On Monday, Chris Lamb, James Johnson, Clayton Clay and Brittney White each won their singles matches while Seccar Cole was the only Mustang player to fall in singles play.
A year ago, Lamb and Clay qualified for state tournament play by winning two matches each at the conference tournament.