By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
PARAGOULD -- The Jonesboro Hurricane took both the boys' and girls' titles in Thursday's Greene County Tech Golden Eagle Relays.
The Forrest City Mustangs ran fourth while the Lady Mustangs ran third. It was the first meet of the season for the Forrest City teams.
Jonesboro's Tarzanna Thompson won three events plus ran on a winning relay team to lead Jonesboro to the girls' title.
Glenn Ritter won two races, finished second in another and ran on a winning relay team to lead the Jonesboro boys.
Thompson won the 100-meter dash in 12.7 seconds, the 200 in 26.9 and the long jump with a leap of 16-8. She also ran on the winning 4x100 relay team along with Natasha Durant, Alisa Stanback and Kara Taylor.
Ritter won the 800-meter run in 2:04.6 and the 1,600 meters in 4:47.9, plus finished second in the 3,200 with a time of 11:35.8. He ran on the winning 4x800 relay team along with Chris Hall, Perry Walker and Adam Stuart.
The Jonesboro boys finished with 156 points, 53 more than second-place Marion. Pocahontas was third with 56, Forrest City fourth with 46 and Paragould and Delaplaine tied for fifth with 24 each.
The Jonesboro girls scored 169 points, 68 more than runner-up Delaplaine. Pocahontas and Forrest City tied for third with 41 each and host GCT was fifth with 39.
There were 17 teams in each division.
In the field events, Forrest City's Justin Jones was fifth in the long jump and Eric Walker was sixth. Jones also was sixth in the triple jump. Walker was seventh in the high jump.
Walker won the 100-meter run in a time of 11.17 while Kenneth Jordan ran fourth. Jordan ran fourth in the 200-meter run.
Walker was second in the 400-meter dash while Jones ran fifth in the 300-meter hurdles.
The Forrest City 400-meter relay team of Chris Barrett, Brian Smith, Jordan and Walker ran to a second-place finish behind Marion.
The same four Mustangs ran third in the mile relay behind Pocahontas and Marion.
"Considering it was the first time we had been on a track this season, I thought we competed extremely well," said first-year track coach Clark McBride. "I was more than pleased to finish fourth. That was a good meet."
In the girls field events, LeJoy Walker was sixth in the high jump while Jessica Perkins was sixth in the long jump.
On the track, Perkins ran second in the 100-and 200-meter runs while Walker won the 400-meter run and was fourth in the 110-meter hurdles.
Shameka Blunt ran sixth in the 100-meter run.
The quartet of Amber Williams, Whitney Lowe, Krystal Long and Glenisha Williams ran sixth in the mile relay while the 400-meter relay team of Long, Lowe, Blunt and Perkins ran second behind Jonesboro.
The Lady Mustangs will run Tuesday at the Lady Hurricane Relays in Jonesboro.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
SEARCY -- Take away the first inning between Searcy and Forrest City Thursday and the Lady Mustangs' conference loss doesn't look nearly as one sided.
Instead, the Lady Lions improved to 3-8 for the year with a 12-3 win over the Lady Mustangs in AAAAA-East action.
Eight of the Lady Lions' 12 runs came in the bottom of the first inning as Forrest City committed several fielding errors.
"Take away that and we only lose 4-3," said Forrest City Coach Pam England. "We had a short dugout meeting and we played much better after that first inning. I was pleased because the kids did not give up even after getting down 8-0."
The loss leaves Forrest City at 6-9 overall and 3-8 in the conference.
Mallory Nelson got the pitching start for the Lady Mustangs but gave way to Stacey Gracey in the bottom of the second with the bases loaded and two outs.
The Lady Mustangs scored twice in the top of the second when Risondra Deans walked and Rachel Sims tripled her home. Sims later scored on a ground out by Randal Ross.
Deans added the team's third run in the top of the fourth.
Forrest City had just five hits in the game but as a team improved with only three strikeouts.
The Lady Mustangs withdrew from the Marion Invitational scheduled for this weekend and will host Cabot Monday at the Sports Complex.
Forrest City won the junior varsity game.
*The Southwest Christian girls softball team from Little Rock rolled into Forrest City Thursday and left with a doubleheader sweep over the Calvary Christian Lady Eagles.
SW Christian won the first game 20-13 and then took the second game 13-8.
Hannah McMahand handled the pitching chores for Calvary in the opener while Lindsey Poe took the mound for game two.
Katie McNair led Calvary by scoring three runs in the first game while McMahand and Meredith Borden scored two runs each. Borden had two home runs in the second game.
Calvary got single runs from Poe, Megan Best, Christy Tittle, Kriston Hogland, Summer Hess and Amber Shackleford.
Tomorrow's scheduled baseball/softball doubleheader at Bishop Byrne in Memphis has been cancelled.
The Calvary Lady Eagles will end the year Tuesday with a doubleheader at Macon Road.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
WEST HELENA -- Forrest City Coach Reggie Murphy gave Cassiday "Catfish" Hankins a chance to earn a pitching victory Thursday in nonconference action at West Helena and the senior righthander responded.
Hankins picked up his first victory of the season as the Mustangs held off the Cougars 12-10.
He helped his own cause by scoring two runs.
The Mustangs scored five times in the top of the first inning before the Cougars answered with four runs in the home portion of the inning to trail Forrest City 5-4.
Three runs in the top of the second pushed the Mustang lead to 8-4 and single runs in the third and fourth provided a 10-4 lead.
West Helena did not score again until the sixth and seventh innings.
Trailing 12-7 entering the bottom of the seventh, West Helena scored three times before the rally died.
D.J. Banks and Preston Echols each scored three runs to lead the Mustangs, who improve to 4-10 for the year.
The Mustangs will host Blytheville for a varsity conference doubleheader on Tuesday, April 20.
*Marcus Arnold drove in three runs and notched the victory on the mound and Jarod Hart drove in five runs as Rivercrest rolled past Blytheville 14-4 Thursday in high school baseball at the Chickasaw Classic.
Arnold allowed six hits and three earned runs while walking none and striking out three in seven innings and also went 2-for-3 with a three-run double in the second inning.
Hart had a big game, following up a two-run home run in the sixth with a three-run double in the seventh.
Trey Coffman was 3-for-5 for the Colts (16-10-1) while Andy Winkelman was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer in the seventh.
*The Greene County Tech Golden Eagles advanced to the semifinals of the Paragould Youth Baseball tournament Thursday night with an 8-3 win over the AAAAA power Searcy Lions.
While the nightcap on Thursday could be called a pitcher's duel, the opener between the Jonesboro Hurricane and the Wynne Yellowjackets certainly was not.
The Hurricane slipped past the pesky Jackets 21-19 behind Blake Cobb's seventh inning three-run homer. Wynne was all but beaten in the fourth inning as Jonesboro put 11 runs on the board in that frame, taking a 15-6 lead.
Wynne battled back, and took an 18-17 lead late in the game.
In the nightcap, Jason Dollars shut Searcy (20-3) down for most of the night, helping GCT to the victory.
Tech got on the board early when Jeremy Mitchell singled to drive in Brady Duncan and give the Eagles a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
Dollars came out and went to work, shutting down the Lions in order in the bottom of the frame.
Tech maintained the one-run advantage through three innings, but Searcy threatened the Tech advantage in the bottom of the third inning.
The Lions had the bases loaded when their leading hitter, Brandon Lynch, struck out to end the Searcy rally.
Tech will face Jonesboro in the first semifinal of the PYB tournament on Saturday.
The first pitch is slated for 1 p.m.
Today, Senath, Mo., faces Batesville at 4 and Paragould meets Doniphan, Mo. at 6:30 p.m.
The second Annual Fireball Classic Girls Basketball Tournament is scheduled for May 14-16th at P.A.R.K. in Little Rock.
The tournament will feature seven age divisions beginning with 10 & under through 17 & under teams.
AAU teams and school teams are welcome to enter. Trophies will be given to first and second place teams.
Entry fees are $150 per team and space in the brackets is limited and the deadline to enter is May 7.
Contact Jeff Spaletta at 501-612-3449 or Rich Hays 501-539-2514 or visit www.arkansasfireballs.com <http://www.arkansasfireballs.com/> for a registration packet.