By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Hughes Blue Devils, the Class AAA state basketball champions, got their rings last Thursday night during the school's annual athletic awards banquet.
Former Coach Wes Swift was on hand to make the presentations.
Swift resigned from Hughes in May to take the head coaching position at Shiloh Christian.
Just 42 days later, Swift resigned from Shiloh to take over the boys' basketball program at Lonoke High School.
Hughes and Lonoke will be in the same conference during the upcoming 2001-2002 season and will play a home-and-home conference schedule.
Following is a list of the Hughes basketball players and awards received:
Billy Mooneyham, Jerome Thomas and Alicia Thomas each received a plaque and a watch.
Tommie Ware, Derrick Johnson, Jamaal Tiggs, Johnny Washington, Malcolm Curne, Jermaine Davis, Jay Doolittle and Fred Hicks each received a ring, a jacket and a patch.
Chris Crawford-Led the team in charges taken with 11.
Robert Davis-Second in scoring and rebounding and always guarded the opposing team's best player. Named to the Northeast Arkansas all-tournament team; 6AAA all-conference team; Class AAA state all-tournament team and was named the MVP of the Region 3 tournament.
Lonnie Smith-Led the team scoring, steals and both free throw and field goal percentage. Named to the Osceola Winter Classic all-tournament team; the Northeast Arkansas all-tournament team; the Region 3 all-tournament team; MVP for the Class AAA state championship game; 6AAA all-conference; Class AAA all-state team; Arkansas Democrat-Gazette First Team All-Arkansas; played at the AAO Top 25 Camp.
DeMarcus Burks-Led team in assists and was second in steals; 6AA all-conference honorable mention; region 3 all-tournament team.
Paul Doolittle-Led team in rebounding and was third in scoring, assists and steals. He was named to the Osceola Winter Classic all-tournament team; NEA all-tournament and 6AA all-conference.
Each received a ring, a plaque and patches.
Lonnie Davis-leader in charges taken, second in free throw percentage and assists. He was named 6AAA all-conference honorable mention.
Tim Jones-Second in field goal percentage, third in rebounding, fourth in scoring. 6AAA all-conference honorable mention and Class AAA state all-tournament team.
Each received a ring, a plaque and a blanket.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City 10-year-old All-Stars survived a protest by Marion Sunday but couldn't hold on for the win in the District 7 Cal Ripken Tournament played at Forrest City.
Meanwhile, the Forrest City 12-year-old All-Stars were eliminated Saturday afternoon from the District 7 Tournament at Clarendon and finished fourth at 2-2.
Marion protested the eligibility of one of the Forrest City players. After a lengthy delay, the player in question was ruled eligible.
Marion scored six runs in the top of the fifth inning, turning a 4-3 Forrest City lead into a 9-4 Marion lead on their way to a 12-7 final in the loser's bracket.
Forrest City scored three times in the bottom of the sixth and ended the game with the bases loaded.
Marion was eventually eliminated from the tournament by West Memphis.
Pine Bluff Seabrook, who moved into the championship game Saturday by defeating West Memphis 10-0 in the winner's semifinal, will face West Memphis today at 6 p.m. for the district tournament title.
A second championship game, if needed, will be played at 8 p.m.
Forrest City finished in fourth place with a 2-2 mark.
After losing their opener Thursday night to Pine Bluff Seabrook 5-1, Forrest City rebounded to eliminate Pine Bluff International Saturday 6-2 and then ousted West Helena 11-1 later in the day.
That set up the meeting against Marion.
Mark Machen led the offense on Sunday by scoring three runs on two hits and a pair of walks.
Seth Smith, Raymond Patillo, Evan Daugherty and Quintarius Powell added single runs.
Patillo pitched the first four innings for Forrest City against Marion before giving way to Smith and Barrett Beshears. Patillo returned to the mound in the sixth to close out the game.
Evan Daugherty scored three runs while Chance Pearson and Seth Smith scored two runs each in Saturday afternoon to lead Forrest City to an 11-1 loser's bracket win over West Helena.
Pearson went the distance for Forrest City giving up the one run on just three West Helena hits while walking three and striking out six.
Raymond Patillo, Barrett Beshears, Findley Scott Laws and Justin Cook scored single runs.
Seth Smith pitched the complete game Saturday morning, holding Pine Bluff International to just two runs on five hits, as Forrest City took a 6-2 victory.
Forrest City scored three runs in the top of the first and added single runs in the second, third and sixth innings.
Mark Machen scored twice for Forrest City while Smith, Patillo, Pearson and Laws added single runs.
After defeating Pine Bluff Seabrook Thursday in first-round play, Forrest City lost to Wynne 3-2 Saturday morning.
They rebounded to eliminate West Helena 11-1 before losing to West Memphis 10-3 late Saturday afternoon.
Forrest City scored six runs in the bottom of the third inning to get past West Helena 11-1, as eight of the nine players scoring at least one run.
Rylan Nimocks went the distance from the mound to pick up the win.
Against West Memphis, Forrest City tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning but fell behind 3-1 after three innings.
West Memphis plated seven runs in the top of the sixth inning to roll to the 10-3 victory, eliminating Forrest City.
Taylor Clark worked five innings for Forrest City. Kendall Rucker, Michael Holland and Johnnie Jones scored single runs for Forrest City.
Kellon Bowman took the hard-luck loss Saturday against Wynne.
Bowman gave up the three Wynne runs on just three hits and retired the first nine Wynne batters he faced before giving up the three runs in the top of the fourth inning.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
MARION--Wynne teams took seven of the possible 15 state qualifying berths at the girls' softball district tournament played at the Marion Recreational Complex over the weekend.
State qualifiers were decided in five different classifications.
Forrest City teams finished out of the running for state except for Giffin's Grins, an automatic qualifier for the 12-under fast-pitch state tournament to be played in Bentonville, July 13-15.
There was no district play for the 12-under fast pitch teams.
In 10-under competition, both Forrest City teams, Sanyo and Dr. Schwartz, were eliminated early.
Schwartz lost to Wynne Servco Friday night 12-2 and was eliminated by the Marion Swingers 9-7 Saturday.
Sanyo lost to Winner's Circle Friday night 13-5 but rallied to defeat West Helena Allied Graphics 13-4 Saturday before being eliminated by West Memphis Jett Fast.
Jett Fast won the 10-under bracket by defeating Wynne First National Bank twice on Sunday. First National finished second while West Memphis' Winner's Circle held on for third place.
All three advance to the state tournament at Jacksonville, July 13-15.
West Memphis SDC defeated Ronny's of West Helena Sunday afternoon to win the 12-under slow pitch district title.
Wynne Kiwanis held on for third place. All three teams advance to the state tournament July 13-15 at Rogers.
In the 14-under slow pitch, Marion's Brenner Farms defeated Mohr Sports in Sunday's championship game to win the district title.
Mohr Sports, of Wynne, finished second while Wynne Regions Bank held on for third place.
All three advance to the state tournament to be played at Sherwood, July 13-15.
It was an all-Wynne final Saturday night in the 16-under slow pitch bracket.
Carter Trucking of Wynne won the 16-under slow pitch district title by defeating Ridout of Wynne for the title.
Ridout finished second while Marion's Beezley's finished third.
All three will advance to the state tournament at Jonesboro, July 13-15.
Marion's Senter Farms ended the three-year district championship run by Forrest City's Dr. St. John Sunday by winning the 16-under fast pitch district title.
St. John, had won three consecutive 16-under slow pitch titles, before making the transition to fast pitch this season.
Senter Farms defeated Wynne's TNT in Sunday's final, leaving TNT as the runner up.
The West Memphis Diamonds finished third.
All three teams advance to to the state tournament to be played July 13-15 at North Little Rock Burns Park.
Forrest City Bonanza lost to Marion Senter Farms Friday night and was eliminated from the fast pitch competition on Saturday by the Diamonds.
Forrest City will hold physical examinations on Wednesday, July 25, for all male and female junior and senior high students who will be participating in athletics for the 2001-02 school year. The physicals will be held at Mustang Arena at 9 a.m.
The exams will also be given on Saturday, July 28, at 9 a.m., at the office of Dr. Curtis Patton. Students cam pick up the forms needed for the physicals from any Forrest City coach.