By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Beginning tonight, the Forrest City Sports Complex will become the "home away from home" for hundreds of youth baseball and softball players and their families for the next two months.
The 2001 youth league schedule officially opens tonight with a full slate of games in girls' softball and a spattering of youth baseball games.
There is a little different spin in the girls' program this season as the 12-Under and 16-Under softball leagues switch from slow-pitch to fast-pitch.
The 10-Under girls' league will stay slow-pitch.
The move was necessitated when the Forrest City High School and Palestine-Wheatley High School softball program decided to move to fast-pitch next year.
In youth boys' action tonight, four of the 14 T-Ball teams will see action, beginning at 6 p.m. on Field 2 when M&T Paving and NuWay hook up.
The remaining 10 teams will hit the field on Friday, May 4.
In the Minor League or pitching machine league, Dr. Beasley and Farm Bureau will start the season at 6 p.m.
H&H Monuments, last year's Minor League champion, moves down into the T-Ball ranks.
The Bambino 9-10 League opens play Thursday while the Bambino 11-12 League starts Friday.
The Junior Babe Ruth League (13-15) will throw their first pitch on Thursday night.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
CABOT--The Forrest City Lady Mustangs golf team opened play today in the AAAAA-East Conference Tournament at Cabot's Greystone course.
The Lady Mustangs rolled through the regular season undefeated at 11-0 and were led by junior Sarah Eldridge and Krista Coleman, who are making their third straight trip to the girls' conference tournament.
They have a shot at bringing home the league championship.
A year ago, the Lady Mustangs finished second to defending champion Blytheville.
Eldridge entered today's competition with a 45.4 stroke average, best among the trio of Lady Mustangs and two-tenths better than Mustang golfer Chad Halbert (45.6) who qualified for the boys' state tournament last week. She finished fourth last year in the individual competition, finishing with a 99.
Coleman's stroke average was 49.2, sixth best in the Forrest City golf program. Coleman was seventh a year ago.
The newcomer to the conference tournament this year is freshman Hannah Cohn, who will be playing the Greystone course for the first time.
"She literally made herself sick over the weekend worrying about the conference tournament," Her mother, Marsha said.
Eldridge, Coleman and Cohn were the only three Lady Mustangs who played in every regular season match. Paige Poteet, Sarah Alderson and Melissa Fogg rounded out the team, but did not play a full regular season schedule.
Forrest City golf coach Tommy Wheetley said that while several conference schools did not field complete girls' teams for the first time in several years, that factor did not diminish the effort by his Lady Mustangs.
"It was a different year in girls' play," Wheetley said. "In the majority of the matches, Sarah, Krista and Hannah either teamed and played the course or teamed with one of the boys' groups."
Eldridge, the so-named veteran of the group who brought home medalist honors five times during the year, said the lack of other girls' teams during conference play, hurt more than it helped her game. She is hoping for solid competition today at the conference meet.
"My goal in the conference tournament is to improve my overall score by 10 strokes," Eldridge said. "I hope I'm paired with someone who will push me to make me play better. I think I play better under pressure."
Wheetley expects the tournament field today will be somewhere between 12 and 16 girls.
"I think some of the schools will only send one girl while some others have recruited some players for today's competition.
The girls spent Monday afternoon on the course playing a practice round.
The Class AAAAA state tournament will be played next week, right back at Cabot's Greystone course.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Mustang baseball team will close out their season today when they host the Cabot Panthers for a varsity doubleheader at the Sports Complex.
The twinbill is set to begin at 4 p.m.
The Mustangs, 5-14 overall and 2-10 AAAAA-East, haven't played since losing to Jonesboro a week ago.
Forrest City's five victories this year is a two-game improvement over last season's 3-17-1 overall mark. But, for the second straight year, the Mustangs will miss the state tournament cut.
Forrest City's last postseason appearance came in the 1999 season when they lost to Rogers in the opening game of the state tournament played at Little Rock Mills.
Cabot brings an 8-4 conference record into today's game and are tied with Little Rock Mills for second place in the league standings.
Today's game will decide whether the Panthers head into the state tournament as the second or third seed from the East.
The fifth-ranked Sylvan Hills Bears have clinched the East conference title. Jacksonville will carry the fourth seed into the state tournament which begins Saturday at Cabot.
The Bears reached the tournament's Final Four a year ago, losing to Texarkana.
The Panthers split a doubleheader against Jonesboro last Friday, losing the opener 6-5 and winning the nightcap 6-3.
The Panthers lost to Conway in the state tournament's first round a year ago while Jacksonville suffered a 6-0 loss to Mountain Home in the opening game.
MEMPHIS -- Cameron King of Forrest City was given the Boyle Award, signifying excellence in both athletics and academics.
King attends Bishop Byrne Catholic School in Memphis and was given the award during a recently held athletic banquet at the school.
King's outstanding achievements in football, basketball and baseball, as well as a 3.0 GPA, qualified him for the award.
Besides the Boyle Award, King was given the MVP award in football; the Mr. Hustle award in basketball and the leadership award for his role on the school's baseball team.
King is the son of John Williford and Pamela King, both of Forrest City.