By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The East Arkansas Ridgerunners, with several Forrest City youths on the roster, finished second at the Super Pretzel Shootout youth baseball tournament played at Southaven, Miss,. April 2-4.
The Ridgerunners, playing in the 8-under coach-pitch division, went 4-1 in pool play, defeating the Carthage (Miss.) Colts 17-9; Team Memphis 12-2 and Team Conxion from Hernando, Miss., 10-5 to advance to the championship round.
The team, which calls Wynne its home base and is coached by Patrick Wilson, defeated the DeSoto Cardinals from Olive Branch, Miss., 16-9 in the semifinal round to get to the championship game where they faced the Flowood, Miss. Terminators.
The Mississippi team held off the Ridgerunners 7-4 in the final.
The Ridgerunners will play in the upcoming Sports Authority Challenge Cup (April 16-18) at Southaven as will the 11-under Forrest City-Colt Delta Storm team, coached by Wayman Cochran and the 13-under Arkansas Concrete team from Forrest City, coached by Greg Bonds.
The 10-under East Arkansas Bandits, coached by Sherry Jumper, finished 0-3 in their division in pool play. The Bandits are comprised of players from Wynne, McCrory and Lepanto.
At the same tournament, in the 11-under division, the Forrest City Travelers finished 1-2 in pool play, defeating the Jackson Heat 2-1 while losing to the Covington (Tenn.) Chargers 7-6 and the New Albany Bulldogs 10-9.
The Collierville Blues defeated the Cleveland Redbirds in the Bronze Consolation game while the Jackson heat defeated Senatobia in the Silver finals. Team Collierville took home the gold, defeating the DC Elite in the championship game.
Scott Deere coaches the Travelers.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The surging Searcy Lions have suddenly become the Beast of the AAAAA-East conference.
At 17-1 overall and ranked sixth in the state high school baseball Top 10, the Lions are looking good as the state tournament rapidly approaches.
And the team is getting it done under former Forrest City coach Clay McCammon.
In the Searcy batting order every player appears capable of delivering a game-turning hit and opponents cannot make mistakes on the mound or in the field.
The Forrest City Mustangs will have the opportunity to deal with the Lions Tuesday when Searcy rolls into the Sports Complex for a varsity conference doubleheader, set to begin at 4 p.m.
The Mustangs are coming off of a split against Jacksonville, but have not played in a week.
The 2-1 win over the Red Devils in last Tuesday's nightcap, may have been the Mustangs' best effort of the season as Terrance Ware picked up the pitching victory and the Forrest City defense played near flawlessly in the field.
They will need another such effort Tuesday.
From leadoff hitter to the nine-hole, the Lions do not show any weaknesses. Searcy is coming off a doubleheader sweep of Jonesboro, winning 4-1 and 10-0 and an impressive victory over No. 2 Springdale.
Six Lions also carry an on-base percentage over .500 and the team has reached base by walk or error 113 times. Searcy is averaging more than nine hits and eight runs per game. In just the last six games, the Lions have scored 67 runs and reached double digits in five of the six contests.
Evans is batting a respectable .293 and has eight runs batted in, part of a bottom three in the batting order that has generated 32 RBIs.
Most high school coaches would give their eye teeth for a seven, eight and nine that productive.
"One through nine has hit the ball the whole season," Evans said. "We're strong all the way through the order. Whoever is at bat is going to put the ball in play most of the time."
Of course, it only helps that the Lions have two seniors who pitch as well as they hit. Matt Dillon has a 2.04 earned run average, leads the regular batting order with a .431 average and has an unreal .944 slugging percentage.
Brandon Lynch boasts a 1.35 ERA and a .375 batting average, and is on pace for 30 RBIs. As pitchers, both he and Dillon have a strikeout-to-walk ratio of well over 3.0.
Today the red-hot Lions carry a six-game win streak into the First Community Bank of Batesville Pioneer Classic where they will take on 19-2 Springdale in a marquee first-round matchup at 1:30 p.m.
Searcy coach Clay McCammon is looking forward to the opportunity to play the best team this year out of the traditionally powerful AAAAA-West.
"I feel like our kids still feel like they have something to prove. This is an opportunity to play one of the best teams in the state and I think they will be ready to play," McCammon said.
The mid-season eight-team tournament, which also includes Russellville, White Hall, Watson Chapel, Greene County Tech, Van Buren and host Batesville, could also help get the Lions into a post-season frame of mind.
"I think it will help our team, especially pitching and other stuff, to get ready for the state tournament," McCammon said. "I personally think a tournament now is better for them than an early-season tournament. We want to get everybody on that mindset of being able to play every day."
As for the current run-producing spree, no one in the Lions' lineup seems to be worried about when it might end.
"I don't think anybody is thinking like that," Hohler
said. "It's more like, 'Let's see how long we can go.'"