By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Forrest City is "2-for-2" in MVP voting.
On Sunday, Sequoria Grady, a 5-11, junior-to-be forward with the Forrest City Lady Mustang basketball team, was named the MVP of the Youth Basketball Of America (YBOA) Pre National Invitational 15-Under Tournament, played in Memphis.
Grady scored 23 points, had six blocked shots and was in double figures in rebounding helping the Little Rock Class Act AAU team to the tournament championship.
She follows Forrest City's Kanetra Pendleton, who was named the MVP of the Arkansas High School Coaches Association fast-pitch All-Star softball game played last Thursday in Fayetteville.
Pendleton, a wild-card pick by Jonesboro Coach Steve Baker, stole the show and lifted the East squad to a doubleheader sweep over the West.
Grady and Pendleton, who graduated in May, played alongside each other for the Lady Mustangs basketball team this past season.
Class Act is coached by former Forrest City track and basketball coach Ray Gillespie.
Gillespie coached at Forrest City through the '80s before leaving in the early '90s.
He now lives in the Little Rock area and is head women's coach at Arkansas Baptist College.
Gillespie and Grady teamed up with a little help from another Forrest City coach -- Mustang basketball coach Dwight Lofton, who came here from North Little Rock.
"Coach Lofton and myself are close personal friends," Gillespie said. "He highly recommended Grady."
Gillespie said he saw Grady play twice during the regular high school season and then saw her play in mid-May at the YBOA state tournament in Fayetteville.
"She was playing for another team at the time and as we talked, she indicated she wanted to play for another team," Gillespie said. "I told her I would give her a chance, based on the recommendation from Lofton. I talked to her in depth about the structure of the Class Act team organization (in existence now for seven years) and told her discipline and academics were key to being a part of this organization, as well as Christian beliefs."
The rest, as one would say, is history or in Grady's case, history in the making.
"Sequoria has the potential to be an outstanding player," Gillespie said. "She needs structure and she needs to have consistency in her intensity level on the floor and most of all, she must possess the desire to succeed, not only in athletics but in the classroom and in her personal life. She is a great talent."
Since joining Class Act, Grady has started about half of the games and come off the bench the rest of the time. According to her coach, she has been a "good fit with the other girls."
Grady, a started for Coach Sue Jayroe's Lady Mustangs as a sophomore, was best known for her shot blocking abilities on the court.
"That was her dose of adrenaline," Jayroe said. "If she got a couple of blocks early in the game, her intensity level soared. At that level, she was hard to contain."
Gillespie agrees.
"Her shot blocking abilities certainly enhances our team," he said. "She has deceptive skills in other areas, but right now she probably leads the team in blocked shots. I want her to be able to play both ends of the floor."
Grady is the only player from this area on the Class Act roster. Gillespie says most of the girls are from the Little Rock area.
"We have Grady, of course from Forrest City, two girls from Star City and one girls from Stuttgart playing on the team. They had to make the commitment to get to practice in Little Rock and to be at all the games," Gillespie said. "They have to earn their place on the team. There is no free ride here. Everyone works hard and pulls their weight."
That applies to the team's upcoming trip to the YBOA National Tournament, set for mid July in Lubbock, Texas.
Each player, including Grady, has to raise their own money for the trip, through fund raising endeavors or donations.
As for her MVP honor, Gillespie said he was surprised at the selection.
"Not that Sequoria didn't deserve it, but I felt I had as many as five different girls on the team who could have easily been named the MVP," Gillespie said. "I think the coaches were taken by Grady's ability to block shots and rebound, especially her leaping abilities. She delighted the crowd with her moves around the basket and the crowd responded to her."
Class Act is 19-3 for the year with several tournament championships under their collective belts and several more on their schedule before bringing the season to a close.
As for Gillespie, he says he hopes this is just the beginning of what will be a long-term relationship between player and coach.
"I want to coach her for the next two years at this level," he said. "I believe I can help her as a player and as a person beyond the basketball court."
Both Gillespie and Grady are off to a good start.
Mr. T Auto ended the Bambino 9-10 League season with their cruise control locked on automatic Tuesday.
The team put the finishing touches on a 12-0 season and grabbed the league championship with a 16-1 victory over Giffin's Grins.
Cochran Auto rolled past Arkansas Electric 18-7 and finished second at 11-2 while Joey's Muffler nailed down third place with a 6-4 win over National Carpet One, leaving the team at 9-4 for the year.
Derrick CPA held on to finish fourth at 7-6, with all six losses coming against the league's top three teams.
Mr. T led 4-0 before erupting for 12 runs in the top of the third inning by sending 16 batters to the plate.
Davyon McKinney led Mr. T by scoring three runs while Chatman Tucker, Larry Smith, Cadeem Carter and Xavier Clardy added two runs each.
Devin Green, Ryan Green and Brandon Morris scored single runs.
Joey's Muffler used two runs from Charles Anderson to put away National Carpet, who led 4-2 going into the bottom of the third, where Joey's scored four runs.
Xavier Banks, Fletcher Myers, Rico Spears and Scott Gracey all scored three runs to lead Cochran past Arkansas Electric while Jarvis Bolden scored twice.
Myers slammed a pair of home runs for Cochran.
Melvin Colby, Will Whittenton and Jordan Chatters scored two runs each for Arkansas Electric.
Derrick CPA downed Sanyo 10-4 to close out the year, getting two runs each from Calvin Hodges, Devante Mitchell, Brandon Davis and Matthew Vaughn and one runs each from Caleb Sugg, Drew Sugg, Lance Hughes, Darrien Green and Nathan Derrick.
Mitchell hit a home run in the third inning.
In Minor League play, Easley Law improved to 4-8 for the year by edging Food Giant 9-8 Tuesday and JB Sports was awarded a forfeit win over Giffin's Grins.
The league will close out regular season play Thursday night.
The girls' 10-under slow pitch league closed out the regular season Tuesday with all 10 teams in action.
Stevens wrapped up the National Division title in the split league by downing Southern Furniture 15-3 to finish the year at 13-1.
Dr. Schwartz was awarded a forfeit win over True Value and finished the year at 12-2 along with Food Giant, who downed Sanyo 14-6.
The two teams end the year tied for first but Schwartz will play Stevens for the overall league championship, since the team defeated Food Giant in both regular season head-to-head meetings.
Food Giant and Schwartz represent the American Division in the league.
The championship game will be played Tuesday, July 1, at 7:30 p.m.
The pairing for the championship game was determined by the two divisional winners in the split league just as most professional sports leagues use.
In other 10-under games played Tuesday, Forrest City Bank closed out the year with a 6-3 win over Title Company and finishes at 7-7. Walker Insurance ends the year at 10-4 with a 14-2 win over Pizza Inn.