By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Christmas came early for Pearson Insurance Thursday night -- with Taco Bell playing the role of Santa Claus.
Taco Bell clipped Wholesale Metal 5-4 in Bambino 11-12 League play at the Sports Complex to improve to 6-2 for the year and into a three-way tie for second place with Lucas Trucking and Wholesale.
The Taco Bell win also left Pearson in the league driver's seat as the team took over sole possession of first place, improving to 7-1 after putting away H&H 7-5.
The latest developments shouldn't surprise anyone who has been keeping up with this particular league race. The Bambino 11-12 race has been tight from the first day of the season.
Chris Smith scored what would be the game-winning run for Taco Bell in the top of the sixth inning to snap a 4-4 tie.
Wholesale went quietly in their last at-bat in the bottom of the inning as Seth Smith struck out the side to end the game.
Both teams scored two runs each in the first inning and were tied at 2-2 before Wholesale took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third when Chandler Sorrells scored.
Taco Bell tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the fourth when Chris Smith scored the first of his two runs. Wholesale regained the lead at 4-3 in the bottom of the fourth when Josh Taylor scored.
Hunter McMahand tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the fifth when he scored for the second time in the game.
Findley Scott Laws and Barrett Beshears combined for the Wholesale pitching duties.
Pearson started slowly against H&H, falling behind 4-1 after two innings before scoring three times in the bottom of the third to tie the game at 4-4.
H&H regained a 5-4 lead by scoring in the top of the fourth but Pearson rallied to win the game with three runs in the bottom of the fourth.
T.J. McFadden and Mark Machen led Pearson by scoring two runs each while Quinn Powell, Chance Pearson and Desmond Pigue added single runs. Machen and Pearson combined for the Pearson pitching duties.
H&H got two runs from Douglas Ferguson and a single run from Nathan Jefferson.
Lucas Trucking escaped Vaccaro's upset bid thanks to the Hoskins' brothers.
Jacob and Zach scored single runs to give Lucas a 2-1 win over Vaccaro.
Vaccaro led 1-0 after Caleb Talley scored a single run in the top of the first inning after drawing a one-out walk. Tally came around to score on an RBI double by Jared Northcutt.
Jacob Hoskins hit a two-out single and brother Zach walked in the bottom of the second. Both came around to score.
Markese Ware went six innings for Lucas striking out 10 while allowing the one run on one hit and six walks.
Rideout improved to 3-5 for the year by rolling past Housers, 13-2.
Jacoby Cooley scored three runs for Rideout while Lee Smith and Romero Barber added two runs each. Bakari Norman, Cedric Barber, Lloyd Barber and Oscar Lowe scored single runs.
*In Minor League action Thursday, Easley Law was awarded a forfeit win over Giffin's Grins while JB Sports got past Food Giant 11-9, ending Food Giant's four-game winning streak.
*Union Planter's remained in control of the Junior Babe Ruth League standings by taking a 17-5 win over Rotary Club Thursday night.
Cochran Auto stayed in second place at 6-2 by putting down Twillies Tigers 10-7 and Freeman ran their season record to 5-3 with a 6-3 win over Taylor Glass.
Blake Davis led the offensive explosion for Union, scoring four times from the lead-off spot in the batting order. Kellon Bowman, Ivan Gardner and John Howard added two runs each while Byron Gardner, Justin Harris and Tyler Davenport scored single runs.
Both Gardner brothers took turns on the mound for Union as did Bowman.
Ricky Thorne led Rotary by scoring three runs and Kyle Gaines added two scores.
Cochran, who will play in the Forrest City Bash this weekend, put together a four-run second and a four-run sixth inning to down the Tigers.
Kenny Norman, Justin Ross and Brandon Burnett all scored two runs each for Cochran.
Edgar Morris, Chad Doyle, Kiel Smith, Daniel Richards and Jamie Green each scored runs for the Tigers.
D.J. Banks, Arthur Jones, Travis Holloway, William Marlowe and Preston Echols all scored to help Freeman to the win over Taylor.
Airtherm moved to 8-0 for the year with a 7-3 win over Dr. Beasley in 12-under fast-pitch softball Thursday.
Jessica Rickard scored three times for Airtherm.
In other league action, Food Giant and Children's Clinic were awarded forfeit wins.
In 16-under fast-pitch, Dr. St. John evened their season mark at 4-4 with an 8-7 win over Bonanza while Clay Funeral Home doubled up Times-Herald 16-8.
Amanda Lyles led Clay by scoring three times and got help from Swvilla Lowe, Brittney Crawford and Ikeshia Chism.
Gym 2000 stayed unbeaten in the adult men's softball league Thursday using a 27-19 win over Poison to improve to 7-0.
M&T Paving downed Boar's Head 22-7 to improve to 5-2 while Morgan and Kerby's both picked up victories. Morgan downed the Bulldogs 12-11 and Kerby's handed Food Giant a 22-13 setback.
Barnes Timber, 5-1 in the league, had the night off.
Barnes won the upper division of the Pop Gibson 22nd annual softball tournament, played last weekend at Jonesboro's Southside Softball Complex.
Out of town teams took first place in all three divisions.
Barnes held off a trio of Jonesboro teams, the Mighty Ducks, Fat City and Minor Threat to win their division.
Hoxie Lumber Company won the men's lower division.
No local teams placed in the women's division, which was headed up by a pair of Little Rock teams -- Teeter Chevy and A-plus Graphics -- with Teeter finishing first.
Forrest City will host a USSSA men's qualifying softball tournament this weekend at the Sports Complex.
Weather permitting, games will begin tonight and the tourney runs through Sunday.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Several teams from Forrest City, Wynne, Judsonia, Marion, DeWitt, Benton, Bald Knob and Trumann will take part in the Forrest City Baseball Bash, which begins Saturday and includes four age divisions.
The tournament will benefit the Ridge Runners seven-year-old pitching machine traveling team, which has qualified for the World series to be held in July in Sulphur, La.
The Ridge Runners include players from the Forrest City-Wynne area.
The 7-8 year old division has five teams in the round-robin format as does the 10-under division. Six teams will make up the 12-under division while four teams comprise the 14-under bracket.
The tournament kicks off at 8 a.m., Saturday morning and all championship games will be played Sunday afternoon.
Admission will be charged and concessions will be available during the weekend.
Andy Polk, son of Charlie and Nancy Polk, recently signed a full scholarship to play baseball at South Florida Community College.
Polk, who played his high school baseball at Lake Wales, Florida, is a pitcher and third baseman, but will be used primarily as a pitcher for the SFCC Panthers.
He has ties to the Forrest City area.
His mother, the former Nancy Baskin, graduated from Forrest City High School and his dad, Charlie is from Marianna. His grandmother Mary Anne Baskin lives in Forrest City and his other grandmother Eva Crawford lives in Helena.
Polk hopes to hone his pitching skills at the South Florida two-year school and then move into the major college ranks.
Polk did not take the pitching mound until his sophomore season at Lake Wales.
While Polk says his fast ball is his best pitch, he has been throwing his changeup better this past season and he is working on a breaking pitch.
At the plate, Polk hit .333 for Lake Wales.
The East Arkansas Community College summer hours for gymnastics classes have been announced by Coach Barry Adams.
All classes will meet each Thursday, June 12 - July 31, in the EACC Gym.
The Tumbleweeds, 3&4-year-olds, will meet from 10:30 until 11 a.m. and the Gymnastics for Youth will meet from 11 a.m. until 12 noon. Cheerleading classes for ages 12-and-older, will meet from 12 noon until 1 p.m.
For more information or to register, call EACC's Department of Community Education at 870-633-4480, Ext. 333.