By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
A former Hughes High School graduate and former resident is enjoying a summer of success in the youth baseball ranks.
Ricky Barkley, now of Magnet Cove, recently led the 16-18-year-old District 1 Southwest Arkansas youth baseball team to a state title. Barkley is he team's manager.
His team won the Arkansas Championship Big League title in tournament action at Augusta earlier this month.
Barkley played youth baseball as a child in Hughes throughout the 1970's and into the 1980's.
He later coached teams in and around the Hughes area through the 1990's until he decided to make the move to Magnet Cove in 2001.
Barkley maintains close ties with the Hughes community and surroundng areas, and says he "continues to keep close ties with family and with friends in the area.
"This area of the state will always be a part of who I am and my life," Barkley said. "It's where I got started as a player and as a coach."
Barkley coached the 16-18 year old District 1 team, comprised of players representing Hot Spring, Clark and Grant Counties and led them to the state competition. All of the players and coaches live in or around the Hot Springs area.
The team's next level of competition, since winning the state title, takes them to Biloxi, Miss., where they will compete in the Big League Southwest Regional Tournament.
The team will represent Arkansas.
The regional tournament includes teams from Texas, Colorado, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
Each of the teams will be vying for the opportunity to represent the America Southwest Region at the Big League World Series , scheduled to be played in August in Easley, South Carolina.
The first game for Barkley's squad is scheduled for Friday, July 25, when they will face Oklahoma at 3:30 p.m.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Mustang coaching staff filled a vacancy this week by hiring former Searcy High School graduate Ryan Wallace.
Wallace, 26, replaces Jeff Hudson, who resigned from the Forrest City coaching staff last month to take a similar position at Paragould.
Wallace played football at Searcy and graduated in 1996. he attended Henderson State University and has been a graduate assistant coach there for the past year-and-a-half.
Wallace will be coaching the Mustang linebackers this season as well as teaching physical education in the classroom.
At Searcy he played linebacker and at Henderson State Wallace was at defensive end.
"I believe Coach Donnie Willis made the call to Henderson looking for a coach and I was looking for a job, so it just seemed to be a perfect fit," Wallace said.
Wallace said he does not have any ties to the Forrest City area.
"So far, I like it here and I hope I can make a contribution to this coaching staff and to the Mustangs," Wallace added. "This is my first full time assistant coaching position. I know the AAAAA-East is a tough conference and I know that it will be a battle each Friday night."
The Mustangs are scheduled to open the 2003 high school season on Sept. 5, when they host Wynne.
Forrest City is the preseason pick to finish fifth in the East, according to a coaches poll taken by Hooten's Arkansas Football.
The Mustangs open the conference portion of their schedule on Sept. 26, when they host Jonesboro.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The annual WynneBall youth baseball tournament gets under way today at the Wynne Sports Complex.
The tournament, which continues through Sunday, has four age divisions -- T-Ball, 7-8, 10-under and 12-under.
The tournament returns after a one year layoff.
Each division, with the exception of the 10-under bracket, will begin with pool play. The 10-under division will be double elimination style.
The top four teams from the T-Ball and 7-8-year-old division's pool play will advance to the championship rounds.
The 12-under division wil field seven teams in a double-elimination bracket while the 12-under bracket features eight teams divided into two pools of four with the top four advancing to the championship round.
The tournament includes teams from Jacksonville, Cabot, Sylvan Hills, Marion, Little Rock, Pine Bluff, Trumann, Benton, Bay, West Memphis and Wynne.