By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Seventeen down, six games to go.
Eight, if you factor in the two rain out games.
Monday night, Barnes Timber won their 17th consecutive game to stay in control of the adult men's softball league.
Barnes rolled up Morgan 21-11 to get to 17-0. The team is two games up on second-place Sanyo, a 13-3 winner over the Young Guns Monday.
Sanyo is now officially 15-2 for the year after league director Kenneth Taylor assessed the team a loss on Monday, dating back to the June 6 matchup between Barnes and Sanyo which ended under a clouded protest by Sanyo over the ejection of two players.
Until Monday, that game had been in limbo and under review by Taylor.
On paper and on the field, Barnes won the game 14-10.
The news that Sanyo now has two losses -- officially -- was especially sweet for M&T Paving, currently in third place in the league standings at 14-3.
Should Barnes falter down the final stretch run, Sanyo and M&T are both in position to make moves toward the top.
M&T Paving needed only three innings Monday to post a 16-1 win over TSM Computers.
M&T and Barnes will meet for the first time on Aug. 1. The two teams were rained out of their June 13 game.
Sanyo and Barnes will hook up again on July 25 while Sanyo and M&T have already played twice. Sanyo won the first meeting and M&T returned the favor in the second matchup.
Gym 2000 has a chance to make up some ground on Thursday when they take on Barnes, who won the first matchup back on May 30, but only by a single run, 11-10.
Monday, Gym 2000 barely broke a sweat with a 24-4 win over Boar's Head.
Kerby's (11-5) took down Greg's 14-4 Monday while the Bulldogs (10-7) kept Food Giant winless with a 21-3 victory.
If the top three (Barnes, Sanyo and M&T) should slip and slide, Gym 2000 at 13-3, is holding onto fourth place in the standings and just a half-game back of M&T, can't be counted out.
If Barnes wins out the rain out games probably won't be played.
*The 22-team men's district tournament and the eight-team women's district tournament will be played Friday-Saturday (July 19-20) at the Forrest City Sports Complex.
M&T, Greg's, Sanyo, Gym 2000, the Bulldogs, Morgan, Kerby'and Boar's Head will all be involved in the tournament action.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Batesville gave Blytheville a going-away present Monday.
Blytheville defeated Searcy 4-3 in the winner's semifinal of the American Legion Zone 2 'A' District Tournament Monday to advance to the championship game, scheduled for today at Forrest City's Sports Complex.
Batesville defeated Searcy 2-0 in the loser's semifinal game and went home, saying they would not return for today's title game -- thus handing the title, literally, to Blytheville.
Both Blytheville and Batesville qualify for a 'A' state tournament.
Deciding not to put any further strain on their pitching rotation, Batesville decided to take the No. 2 seed into the state tournament and run.
That gave Blytheville the forfeit win for the district title and the No. 1 seed into the state bracket.
Blytheville needed extra innings to put away Searcy on Monday.
The two teams were tied at 3-3 after seven innings.
Blytheville used a leadoff double by Mark Hawkins and an RBI base hit by Justin Brown in the bottom of the eighth to win the game.
Batesville scored a single run in the first and another in the sixth to oust Searcy.
Aron Cornett got the win in the three-hit shut out victory.
* CITY LEAGUES
Adult Softball
Monday's Scores
Bulldogs 21, Food Giant 3
Kerby's 14, Greg's 4
Sanyo 13, Young Guns 3
Barnes 21, Morgan 11
Gym 2000 24, Boar's Head 4
M&T Paving 16, TSM Computers 1