By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
CABOT--The Forrest City Lady Mustangs did what they were expected to do Tuesday and won the AAAAA-East Conference golf championship played at Cabot's Greystone Country Club.
The Lady Mustangs shot 200 as a team to win the league title.
Cabot finished second with a team score of 262.
Forrest City junior Sarah Eldridge finished with an 89 -- 10 strokes better than her finish a year ago in individual play -- but still finished second to Jacksonville's Natasha Vincent, who fired a 77.
Forrest City golf coach Tommy Wheetley said Eldridge started slowly on the front nine but picked up steam on the back nine to post her day's total.
Wheetley said Eldridge has a solid chance of finishing in the top 10 during the state tournament.
Krista Coleman, another Forrest City junior, was third with a 111 while West Memphis' Candice Ratliff finished fourth with a 116. Cabot's Chelsea Styron finished fifth with a score of 126.
Hannah Cohn, the third Forrest City team member and a freshman making her first appearance in conference tournament play, finished seventh with a 148 score.
All three Forrest City girls qualified for next week's Class AAAAA state tournament.
It is the first-ever girls' golf championship for Forrest City.
The Lady Mustangs finished the regular season with an 11-0 record.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Cabot Panthers nailed down the third playoff berth from the AAAAA-East Tuesday by dropping the Forrest City Mustangs twice in a varsity doubleheader at the Sports Complex.
Cabot senior Ryan Talbert breezed through the first game, no-hitting the Mustangs in a 10-0 Panther win.
Cabot took the nightcap 11-4.
Talbert faced only 17 batters and gave up just one walk -- a first inning free pass to Will Harris. Drew Vaccaro reached base in the fifth inning on a dropped third strike pitch which rolled to the back stop.
Those were the only two Forrest City base runners in the opening game. In between, Talbert retired 12 Forrest City batters.
Talbert struck out 10 Mustangs.
Marcus Hancock took the loss for the Mustangs, giving up all 10 runs on 11 hits and four walks. Hancock fanned five.
Cabot scored four runs in the first inning, one run in the second, three in the third and two in the fifth to end the game under the run-rule.
Chris Huinker took the mound for the Panthers in the second game and was opposed by Forrest City's Colby McKennon.
Once again, Cabot opened an early lead, scoring four times in the bottom of the first and added two runs in the second to lead 6-0.
The Mustangs loaded the bases in the third inning but couldn't score.
Cabot went up 7-0 with a single run in the fourth before the Mustangs broke through with a run in the fifth when Mark Lewis walked and scored on a sacrifice by Danny Flowers.
Cabot made it 8-1 with a fifth-inning run but Forrest City scored three times in the top of the sixth.
Hancock was walked intentionally to start the inning and Justin McKissick walked on four pitches from Huinker. Vaccaro's RBI single brought in Hancock and forced a Cabot pitching change, as Huinker left and Aaron Peeples took the hill.
Brad Taylor hit into a 6-4-3 double play but McKissick scored on the play from third.
Lewis scored his second run of the game when he singled and crossed the plate on an RBI single by Brandon Cochran.
Cabot pushed three more runs across the plate in the bottom of the sixth and Peeples retired the Forrest City side in the top of the seventh -- bunched around an infield single by Logan Knight -- to end the game.
Forrest City ends the season at 2-12 in the conference and 5-16 overall.
Cabot joins Sylvan Hills, Little Rock Mills and Jacksonville as the four representatives from the East into the Class AAAAA state tournament, which begins Saturday, May 5, at Cabot.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Zach Doler scored three runs and nine of the 10 Dr. Beasley players scored at least one run in a 15-6 opening season win over Farm Bureau Tuesday.
Caleb Sugg, Kendall Lee, Drew Sugg and Quinton Jones each scored twice for the winners.
Dr. Beasley led 6-1 after one inning and 8-1 after three innings and 12-1 before Farm Bureau scored three times in the bottom of the fifth.
Farm Bureau scored three runs in the fifth and two in the sixth.
Corey Nelson scored twice for Farm Bureau while Will and Bryan Whittenton and Joewann Mitchell scored single runs.
Taylor-Casbeer 11, Joey's Muffler 4
Brian Morgan and Zach Trail each hit home runs Tuesday to help lead Taylor-Casbeer to a season-opening win over Joey's Muffler.
Both players had three hits and scored three times. Charles Anderson scored twice while Josh Brock, Trenton Neely and Akeem Bogart scored single runs.
Morgan opened the third inning with a solo homer while Trail's home run was a two-run shot coming in the fifth inning.
Taylor-Casbeer led 8-0 before Joey's broke through in the fourth inning with a pair of runs.
Jarki Jackson scored two of Joey's four runs, while Drew Poindexter and Dusty Smith added single runs for Joey's.
Minor League action continues Thursday night when Easley Law Firm takes on M&T Paving at 6 p.m. and the Forrest City Lion's Club battles Mr. T Auto at 7:30 p.m.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Food Giant scored the game-tying and game-winning runs in the bottom of the fourth inning Tuesday night and held on to nip Boar's Head 13-12 in the season-opening game for both teams in 16-Under fast-pitch softball.
Food Giant trailed 12-11 with two outs when Holly Simon tied the game at 12-12 when she scored, and Nikki Tripp scored the winning run on a base hit by Candice Chapman.
Food Giant won only three games last season.
Simon, Tripp, Haley Widby and Jessica Long scored two runs each for Food Giant.
Risondra Deans scored three runs to lead Boar's Head while Gabrielle Agnew and Chawntay Ballard scored two runs each.
Clay Funeral Home 15, Sanyo 8
Clay erased an early Sanyo lead by scoring five runs in the third inning and four runs in the fourth to take a 15-8 win over Sanyo in 16-Under play.
Bonanza 16, McDonald's 14
Bonanza got three runs from Shardavia Davis and Deana Austin to put away McDonald's 16-14 Tuesday night.
Bonanza led 5-3 after one inning and 10-8 after two innings.
Stacey Gracy and Lauren Dover scored twice for Bonanza.
Jennifer Ballard, Kylie Moore, Jessica Lewis, Whitney Tracy and Amanda Ramsey scored two runs each to lead McDonald's.
Dr. St. John, last year's 16-Under champion, was idle Tuesday and will open play on Friday when they take on Bonanza at 9:15 p.m.
Clay will battle Food Giant and McDonald's will play Sanyo, both games set to begin at 9 p.m.
Times-Herald snapped a 9-9 tie by scoring three runs in the bottom of the third and then held off Children's Clinic 12-10 Tuesday in 12-under fast-pitch softball.
Meg McGuirt scored three runs for T-H while Aviva Williams and Layne McGuirt added two runs each.
Elaina Patton and Sunni Dunn led Children's Clinic with two runs each.
T-H led 4-2 after one inning and 9-4 after two full innings of play.
Children's scored five times in the top of the third to tie the game.
Giffin's Grins 15, Crowley's Ridge 9
Giffin's scored five runs each in the first two innings to lead Crowley's Ridge 10-3 and then held a late run by Crowley's to take a 15-9 win in 12-under.
Kemeshia Chism and Cassandra Jackson scord three runs each for Giffins.
Jazzalyn Rodgers, Christina Faulk, Morgan Davis and Dekesha Huff scored two runs each for Crowley's.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Mom's fell behind early Tuesday against Steven's but rallied to take a 12-10 win in eight innings in girls 10-under slow-pitch softball.
Arlenna Richmond scored three runs to pace Mom's while Semiko Grady and Makayla Metcalf added two runs each.
The two teams were tied at 9-9 after seven innings.
Alexandra Dooley led Stevens with three runs while Kanesha Hughes, Taylor Billingsley and Mary Hodges scored twice each.
Sanyo 15, True Value 6
Sanyo scored five runs in the fourth and fifth innings to put away True Value 15-6 in the opening game for both teams Tuesday night.
Charneise Turner scored three runs for Sanyo. Akira Brown and LaQusha Moore scored twice for True Value.
Title Company 8, FCity Bank 3
Christy Tittle scored three times to lead Title Company past Forrest City Bank 8-3 Tuesday night.
Megan Meridith led FCB by scoring two of the three runs.
Food Giant 10, Dr. Schwartz 6
Food Giant scored five runs in the third inning to take a come-from-behind 10-6 win over Dr. Schwartz.
Food Giant got two runs from Kristen Heard.
Walker Insurance 9, Southern Furniture 6
Walker Insurance opened a 5-1 lead after one inning and then had to hold off Southern Furniture to take a 9-6 win.
Southern scord three runs in the second and twice in the fourth.
Brittney Hankins and Charnette Freeman led Southern by scoring two runs each while Walker got two runs from Megan Hastings.
The 10-Under league teams will return to play on Friday, May 4.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Palestine-Wheatley High School will officially retire Erica Smith's No. 50 basketball jersey Thursday morning during a special ceremony at the Patriot Gym beginning at 8:30 a.m.
Smith, a 5-10 senior forward, who helped lead the Lady Patriots to the Class AA girls' state basketball championship, has signed with Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, La.
Smith was recently named the Gatorade State Player of the Year as well as Arkansas' Ms. Basketball by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Lady Patriot Coach Beverly Bass said Smith's jersey is the first one ever to be retired by the school.
The public is invited to Thursday's ceremony.