By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
ST. LOUIS -- The Arkansas Concrete youth baseball team played nine games in six days and laid a foundation for their future at the American Amateur Youth Baseball Alliance 11-Under World Series played in St. Louis, Mo. last week.
Arkansas Concrete, a travelling tournament team, is made up of players from Forrest City, Wynne and Marianna.
In their their first-ever trip to the AAYBA World Series, the team finished 4-5 at the World Series, which earned the team fifth place in the Gold Division, the second-highest division past pool play and a 13th overall finish in their age division, which included 28 teams from several states.
Arkansas Concrete, one of four Arkansas teams in the tournament, finishes the season with a 23-29-2 record.
"We had a very good season," said Head Coach Greg Bonds, who put the team together five years ago. "And playing at St. Louis was good for us. We faced some of the best teams we've seen."
The AAYBA World Series employed Olympic Pool play, a seeding round and then championship play in one of four divisions -- Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze.
Arkansas Concrete finished 1-3 in their pool, losing to Mac & Seitz Indians from Kansas City, Mo. 18-3 in their opening game and then rebounded to take a 6-1 victory over the Michigan Mariners. The team lost their final two games in pool play to the Southern California Sharks 6-1 and to the Georgia Roadrunners 10-1.
The team played two games in the seeding round and finished 1-1, defeating the Amherst (Ohio) Bumpers 7-5 and then losing to Fairfield (Ohio) Hurricanes 11-7.
That placed the team in the Gold Division where they faced the Sharks for a second time, losing 6-2. Arkansas Concrete completed their stay with a 12-8 win over Bamm Baseball from Michigan and a 6-5 victory over the Arkansas Flyers.
"We didn't hit the ball as well as had been going into the tournament," Bonds said. "We were putting the bat on the ball, but we weren't finding the holes. We had too many infield pop ups. Defensively, we played very well. I think we probably turned at least a dozen double plays."
Bonds said a return trip to the AAYBA is definitely in the cards for the team next year.
"We were originally going to go to the USSSA World Series in Kansas, but we thought the AAYBA was a better trip and better competition for us," Bonds said. "We were right. It was."
The teams were introduced Friday night at Busch Stadium before the start of the Cardinals-Cubs game.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Rhett Morphis used to play summer league youth baseball in Forrest City.
Last year, as an 11-year-old, he played for the POPS Bambino League team.
Now he is a member of the Mustangs -- the Marion Mustangs, that is, a 12-under travelling tournament team. He is the only player from Forrest City on the team.
Before hooking up with the Mustangs, Morphis played for Wayman Cochran's Forrest City Travelers tournament team.
He was recommended for the Marion team by Greg Bonds, who coaches the Arkansas Concrete tournament team.
That's one of the things Morphis and the Arkansas Concrete team have in common. The other is that both Morphis and the Concrete team just finished a stay at the American Amateur Youth Baseball Alliance World Series, played in St. Louis, Mo.
The Mustangs were one of the 36 teams in the 12-under division and the only Arkansas team in the bracket.
They finished 11th out of the 36 teams.
Morphis pulled double duty with the Mustangs, starting two games at catcher and then anchoring second base for the team.
Morphis will be a seventh grader when school starts next month, but said he isn't sure if he will be attending classes in Forrest City or elsewhere.
He is the son of Erna-Lou and Bobby Morphis.
Morphis returned from St. Louis with 75 trading pins, each representing a team entered into the tournament. Trading pins has become a popular past time with the players.
"I started with 25 pins," Morphis said.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Barnes Timber picked up their 20th consecutive victory Monday night while handing Food Giant their 20th straight loss in adult men's softball league action.
Barnes drilled Food Giant 25-7 to move to 20-0 in the league with one regular season game to play and two make up games, if needed.
Barnes has a three-game lead over both Sanyo and M&T Paving in the league standings.
Sanyo defeated Boar's Head 19-9 Monday while M&T took care of Kerby's 16-6. Both teams are 17-3 and tied for second in the standings.
Gym 2000 is one game back and in third place at 16-3 after defeating the Young Guns 20-15.
Kerby's, despite the loss to M&T, holds on to fourth place in the league at 12-7 while the Bulldogs, 15-5 winners over Morgan on Monday, are in fifth at 11-8.
Miller Insurance downed TSM Computers 11-1 to improve to 10-10 for the year.
Thursday night will be interesting for the league teams because the schedule will offer first-time matchups between the teams -- including the first meeting of the year between Barnes and M&T.
Other Thursday first time matchups have Gym 2000 going against Kerby's, Miller taking on Morgan, Greg's vs Food Giant, the Bulldogs taking on Sanyo and TSM going against the Young Guns.
These matchups were originally set for June 13, the 12th playing date of the season, but were rained out.
MOUNTAIN HOME -- The Jonesboro Ricemen claimed their fourth straight Zone 2 district championship Monday night, but Paragould made sure they worked for it.
Jonesboro scored six times in the bottom of the eighth, then held on for a 12-9 victory over Paragould in the finals of the AAA American Legion baseball tournament at Cooper Park.
Both teams advance to the AAA State Tournament to be played at Fayetteville's Baum Stadium at the University of Arkansas this weekend.
Jonesboro (44-7) trailed 8-6 heading into the bottom of the eighth, but exploded for six unearned runs -- all after two men were out -- to wrap up the championship
Revis Kemper, who reached on an error leading off the inning, scored on a wild pitch by Paragould reliever Brandon Clark.
Cody Fry then slapped a run-scoring single to left and the Ricemen grabbed a 9-8 lead when the ball bounced past the left fielder and rolled to the fence. Fry ended up at third on the play.
Jonesboro poured it on from there with three consecutive run-scoring hits by Isaac Dillon, John Findley and Andy Bettis to push the lead to 12-8.
Fry came on in the top of the ninth to close out the win. The right-hander walked a pair and allowed a run, but struck out Josh Lange and got Drew Kellums to ground out to end the game.
The Ricemen had not given up a run in a pair of seven-inning, run-rule victories earlier in the tournament, including a 13-0 win over Paragould in the winner's bracket final Sunday.
Jonesboro finished with 12 hits in the game as Dillon, Findley, Bettis and Jimmy Tollison each had two hits. Bettis and Matt Byrd also drove in two runs apiece.
Clif Baxter (7-0) pitched a scoreless eighth inning to pick up the win for Jonesboro in relief of Dillon. He struck out two and walked a batter.
Paragould, which landed a berth in the finals and the AAA state tournament bid with a dramatic 8-7 win over Batesville earlier in the day, held a 1-0 lead through four innings and regained the lead, 8-6, thanks to a three-run seventh.
Andy Schatzley had a two-run single and Roger Lenderman added an RBI-single to give Paragould (26-14) the two-run lead.
Paragould finished with seven hits in the game, including two by starting pitcher Rusty Farrin.
Earlier, Paragould rallied from a 7-5 deficit over the final three innings to claim an 8-7 win over Batesville.
Matthew Davis' sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth plated Lange with the game-winner.
Farrin left after seven innings with Paragould leading 8-6. The right-hander allowed six runs on eight hits.
Trailing 1-0, Jonesboro used a six-run fourth to take control of the game 6-1.
Paragould responded with four runs in the top of the fifth to pull within 6-5.
Lange's ground ball to first got past Bettis and rolled into the right-field corner as two runs scored.
Another scored on a wild pitch by Dillon to make the score 6-4.
The Forrest City Country Club hosted the Ladies Invitational Golf Tournament last week.
The tournament used a two-person scramble format with 30 teams competing.
The Forrest City team of Shana Radford and Mary Allen shot a 65 to win first place in the championship flight. Joyce Sparks and Liz Rucker finished second with a 66 while Sheila Carter and Janet Calloway finished third with a round of 70.
The Forrest City duo of Gin Thomas and Betsy Wallace finished first in the First Flight with a 73 while Teresa Roup and Judy Uzzell, of Memphis placed second with a 74. Pat Sellers of Blytheville and her partner, Cindy Sellers of Cordova, Tenn., were third with a 75.
May Lee Wierzba and Peg Bowden of Jonesboro shot a 78 to win the Second Flight while Jimmie Snowden and Anna Grizzle of Brinkley placed second one stroke back at 79. Barbara Hess of Wynne and Molly Hennessey of Little Rock were third with an 80.
The Wynne team of Carol Lou Eldridge and Helen Smith finished first in the Third Flight with a round of 83. Gertie Tribo of Cordova and Evelyn Helmhout of Memphis finished second while Shelly Ray of Brinkley and Titha Ellis of Wheatley were third.
The youth soccer camp, scheduled for Aug. 5-9, at East Arkansas Community College, has been cancelled.
Beth Bridgforth, director of community education at EACC, said lower than expected interest in the camp, led to the cancellation.
* CITY LEAGUES
ADULT SOFTBALL
Monday's Scores
Barnes Timber 25, Food Giant 7
Miller Insurance 11, TSM Computers 1
M&T Paving 16, Kerby's 6
Gym 2000 20, Young Guns 15
Sanyo 19, Boar's Head 9
Bulldogs 15, Morgan 5