By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
CABOT -- It took a while to complete the 27-team Panther Relays run Tuesday at Cabot.
But when the final tabulating had been made, the results showed three AAAAA-East boys teams landing in the top five.
The Conway Wampus Cats ran to a first-place finish followed by Little Rock McClellan.
Cabot, West Memphis and Jonesboro held third, fourth and fifth.
Six of the eight East Conference teams were represented at the relays. Mountain Home and Blytheville were the only two missing in action.
Both the Forrest City Mustangs and Lady Mustangs competed well, according to coaches Clark McBride and Lewis Etheridge.
"It was as close to being a pre-state meet as you can get," Etheridge said. "The top guns were there and that was good for us. Against the conference teams we were right with them."
Conway finished in first with 110 points, followed by McClellan with 90. Cabot took third place with 57-1/2 points, while West Memphis and Jonesboro rounded out the top five, with 57-1/3 points and 56-1/2 points, respectively.
Forrest City sophomore Eric Walker ran second in the 400-meter dash, behind McClellan's Mario Brister. Walker's time was 50.3.
"He should win the event at the upcoming conference meet," said McBride. "He finished well ahead of the East runners and has done so all year.
Walker also helped the 400-meter relay team to an eighth place finish in a time of 44.6.
Walker ran with Kenneth Jordan, Brian Smith and Chris Barrett.
Jordan, Smith and Barrett teamed with Justin Jones for an eighth-place finish in the mile relay, posting a time of 3:39, six seconds off the relay's team previous best time.
"We should qualify both relay teams for state," McBride said. "Our times are good enough."
Jones had his best effort of the season in the long jump, finishing sixth with a leap of 20 feet, eight inches.
Jonesboro's Glenn Ritter took home a first-place finish in the 800-meter run.
Ritter finished with a time of 2:01.91, while Perry Walker took a third-place finish with 2:04.72. The Jonesboro 3,200-meter relay team, consisting of Chris Hall, Adam Steuart, Ritter and Walker, finished first with a time of 8:14.09.
In the girls' competition, Forrest City did not place in either the 400 or mile relay, but the team did post their best times of the year.
Krystal Long, Amber Williams, Whitney Lowe and Jessica Perkins ran the 400-meter relay in 55.60, while Long, Williams, Lowe and LeJoy Walker ran the mile relay in 4:44.6.
Walker ran eighth in the 400 meter dash, posting a season-best time of 1:04.44.
Perkins ran sixth in the 100-meter dash in a time of 13.2 and ran sixth in the 200 with a time of 26.78, her best time of the year in that event.
Both Forrest City teams and the remainder of the East conference teams will return to Panther Stadium in Cabot on Saturday, May 8, for the Conference Meet.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The West Memphis Lady Blue Devils had already nailed down a state tournament playoff berth before Tuesday's final regular season game against Forrest City.
The Lady Mustangs were already eliminated from postseason play.
But the two teams played like the state championship was on the line at the Sports Complex.
West Memphis pitcher Rachel Waggener no hit the Lady Mustangs Tuesday and got just enough offense from her teammates to take home a 5-1 win over Forrest City.
The game was a stark contrast to the first meeting between the two teams -- won by West Memphis 12-2.
Waggener struck out the first eight Forrest City hitters she faced and finished with 14 strikeouts, raising her season total to 129 strikeouts in 144 innings.
The Lady Mustangs countered with Mallory Nelson who went the first three innings before giving way to Stacey Gracey in the fourth. Nelson gave up all five West Memphis runs -- three of those earned -- in taking the loss. She gave up five hits and walked five. Gracey allowed only two hits but no runs during her four innings.
West Memphis took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning using two hits, three walks and a couple of wild pitches.
They added two more in the third to make it 5-0.
The Lady Mustangs got their lone run in the bottom of the fourth when Gracey used a West Memphis error to reach base and scored on a ground out by Leigh Anna Taylor.
Gracey was the only Forrest City player to reach base during the game.
Jami Edmondson led West Memphis by scorng twice on two hits.
Forrest City, under first-year coach Pam England, ends the year at 6-12 overall and 3-11 in the AAAAA-East.
*The Searcy Lady Lions closed out their 2004 softball season with a 13-2 five-inning win over Blytheville at the Searcy Sports Complex on Monday.
Krystle Curtis went 3-for-3 hitting in ninth position and Shonda Rushin went 2-for-3. Autumn Inman and Tiffany Shourd also had singles for Searcy, which finished 7-15 overall and 4-10 in AAAAA-East.
Nine walks and two hit batsmen helped the Lady Lions put together six-run innings in the second and the fourth. Blytheville was held to two runs in the third in its final softball game as a member of AAAAA-East.
At Rector, Samantha Dunigan earned the win despite giving up 13 hits as Riverside edged Cross County 7-6 in a semifinal game of the Class AA Region 4 tournament Tuesday.
Rector defeated Bay 6-4 to set up a title match with Riverside at 5 p.m. today.
Both teams will advance to the state tournament which will be played at Harrison.
Cross County's Robbi Guzman struck out 14 and allowed just six hits, but walked 11 in the loss. She also went 2-for-4, as did teammate Candice Halk.
For Riverside (10-11), Tiffany Treece came up with two RBIs in the top of the seventh to make the game 7-4. Amanda Dunigan also added an RBI.
Tara Shepard took the pitching victory and added two RBIs at the plate in Rector's 6-4 win over Bay.
Rector improves to 17-3.
Shepard (17-2) pitched all seven innings, throwing nine strikeouts and allowing just five hits. She walked just one.
The Forrest City Mustang baseball team completed their 2004 season Tuesday with a doubleheader conference loss at West Memphis.
The Blue Devils, who finish 5-9 in the AAAAA-East, won game one 6-3.
Forrest City, 4-14 overall and 1-13 in the conference, got a home run and a double from Preston Echols and singles from Broderick Gray and Avian Wright.
In game two, West Memphis posted an 8-3 victory.
Cassiday "Catfish" Hankins took the pitching loss for the Mustangs. Terrance Ware, Kiel Smith and Ben Horton each had singles for the Mustangs.
Jonesboro and Searcy tied for the conference championship while Mountain Home and Blytheville rounded out the top four.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The 18th annual "Alpha Phi Alpha" benefit basketball tournament will be played at Lee High School in Marianna, on Saturday, May 1.
The tournament was originally scheduled to be held at Salem Baptist Church in Forrest City. In past years, the tournament has been played at various locations, including Marianna.
Lee High School is located on Highway 1 South.
All proceeds from the tournament will be used for the Alpha Phi Alpha Scholarship Fund.
The tournament is being sponsored by III Star Agency and by Jimmy Rogers.
All teams interested in participating in the tournament may call Edward Norman at 870-633-5356.
A seven-foot tall team trophy will be awarded to the winning team, and trophies will be given to the tournament's Most Valuable Players.
The tournament will tip at 8 a.m. and continue until 9 p.m.
The Trumann Baseball Invitational will be held at Fleming Field in Trumann, Saturday, May 8.
The tournament will include age divisions for pitching machine (7-9) as well as 9-10 and 11-12 year old teams.
For more information, call James Evans at 870-919-3400.
Trumann will also host the third annual T-Town Girls' Softball Coke Classic, Friday and Saturday, May 7-8 at the Trumann Sports Complex.
Age groups include 8-under coach pitch and 8-under pitching machine, 10-under fast pitch, 12-under fast-pitch, 14-under fast-pitch and 16-under fast-pitch.
For information, call Sharon Turman at 870-483-1098 or 870-972-0566.