Operative word for
tonight's schedule of games is 'tentative'By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Without so much as throwing one pitch or getting one base hit, the Forrest City 13-year-old All-Stars are 1-0 in District 7 Tournament play.
The team was awarded a first-game, forfeit win over Pine Bluff Northern Thursday morning which means the team will not have to play the opener, which was originally set for today at 5 p.m., at White Hall.
Instead, Forrest City will open play Friday at 7 p.m., against the Wynne-White Hall winner.
Weather permitting, the Forrest City 15-year-old All-Stars are scheduled to open District 7 Tournament play tonight at 7 p.m., at Pine Bluff against the host team Pine Bluff Northern.
The 15s are coached by Wayman Cochran.
The Forrest City 13s return nine players from last year's 12-year-old All-Star team which won the district title last year defeating Pine Bluff Seabrook in the finals.
"This is a tournament-experienced team," said Coach Terry Laws. "We have a core group of kids who have played together for several years on traveling teams and other tournament teams."
Laws said seven of the 13-year-old All-Stars play together on a regular basis as part of the Forrest City Fireballs team.
The nine 13s, who were part of last year's 12-year-old district championship team are Markese Ware, Chance Pearson, Barett Beshears, Findley Scott Laws, Lee Smith, Jacobi Cooley, Mark Machen, Jared Northcutt and Nathan Jefferson.
Laws added William Burks and Demario Peters this year to round out the all-star squad.
"Burks and Peters are solid players and they are definitely going to help fill the holes left by two of last year's 12-year-old team members -- Evan Daugherty and Seth Smith -- who did not play city league ball this season and are not eligible for All-Stars," Laws added.
The 13s have four pitchers, but Laws said the team will have to hope for some short games in order to be able to use the pitching "judiciously."
"We don't need to be in a position where we have to use more than two pitchers in one game," Laws said.
In district play, pitchers are limited to seven innings for two games.
Laws said he has players for each position with some solid hitters sprinkled throughout the batting order.
"We don't have a lot of power, but we have some contact hitters who can play small ball," Laws said. "I think we have the ability to manufacture some runs when we need to."
A year ago, the 13s came within an eyelash of winning the district title, taking Pine Bluff to the "if" game in the district tournament at Marion.
In other district tournaments already played or still underway, the Forrest City 10s and the Forrest City 12s both played two games last weekend and were eliminated from their respective tournaments.
The 10-year-olds will be competing in the state tournament, scheduled for mid-July in Jacksonville.
The Forrest City 11-year-old All-Stars will head straight to state tournament play, which begins Friday, July 9, at Marion.
The team, coached by Larry Derrick and Jim Hughes, will open at 10 a.m., Friday against Stuttgart.
There is no district tournament for the 11-year-old age groups.
Operative word for
tonight's schedule of games is 'tentative'By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Tonight, unbeaten Walker Insurance is tentatively scheduled to put their perfect season on the line one more time when they take on once-beaten Forrest City Bank for the outright girls' 10-under slow-pitch league title.
Tonight, the T-Ball postseason tournament is tentatively scheduled to resume play.
Tonight, the adult men's softball league is tentatively scheduled to play.
The operative word in each of the above statements, if you haven't noticed, is "tentative."
As of mid-morning, the fields at the Forrest City Sports Complex were still "lying in wait" to be made ready for tonight's projected schedule of games.
The sun was shining brightly, but there were no worker bees in sight -- at all.
Well-placed answers to well-placed telephone calls had not been returned to the Times-Herald sports desk, for whatever reasons.
With more rain forecast for the area later today and tonight, one would certainly tend to think that tonight's games are all in doubt.
Or maybe, the powers-that-be have already conceded to Mother Nature and forfeited tonight's schedule.
The 10-under championship game probably should be played to determine a "true champion" but to draw it out another week may not be the answer.
Walker is 12-0 and champions of the National Division side of the split league.
Forrest City Bank is 11-1 and owns the American Division title.
Walker owns one win over Forrest City Bank already.
If the 10-under league title game is played, it would begin at 7 p.m. on Field 3.
At least that's the last word I was given.
A year ago. Dr. Schwartz defeated Stevens for the overall league title in the championship game.
As mentioned, the T-Ball Tournament is five, possibly six games away from being completed.
If the remaining teams do not play tonight, the rest of the tournament games could be played Friday. That means one team would have to play four times in one night. While that may not be a pleasant thought to most, it is a possibility and it has been done before and trust me, it would be much tougher on the adults than it will be on the kids.
The operative word in that statement is "kids" whose energy levels are much higher that those of us adults.
The likihood of the tournament resuming after the Fourth of July weekend probably is not worth mentioning.
The adult men's softball league could miss tonight's schedule of games and still be okay.
The league already has one set of rain outs to make up and tonight really wouldn't make life that much more difficult for the league teams.
Doubleheaders, as in the past, are usually the rule of thumb whenever the men's league needs to finish out the season.
The men have until July 16, almost two full weeks to play the remaining games, before the district tournament opens play.
As for now, all we can do is wait until 3 p.m. when "tentative"
could turn to reality -- or not.