By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Easley Law is 9-0, Hartman Diesel is 8-1.
They are 1-2 in the Minor (pitching machine) League standings.
One coach is hoping for a lop-sided game while the other just wants the game to be as good as it appears to be on paper.
The two teams will meet for the first time this season tonight at 6 p.m., on Field 7 at the Sports Complex.
It should be the second matchup but the first was postponed because it fell on high school graduation night when both teams were 3-0.
Since then, Easley has not faltered while Hartman slipped once -- against Vaccaro -- in a loss that head coach Michael Hight calls a "coaching error" on his part.
"We lost a player just before the game and I had to shift the lineup and move some players into different fielding positions," Hight said. "The kids did not respond to the changes as well as I thought they would. I take the blame for that loss. The kids played hard and they did not quit. They tried to do all we asked them to do."
That coaching error cost Hartman a 13-12 loss, the only blemish on an otherwise stellar season.
Meanwhile Easley Law, under the command of Craig Parker, has rolled through and mowed down each and every obstacle they have faced so far this season.
Easley returned seven players from last year's team which finished 4-8 in the league.
Coupled with some up and coming seven-year-olds, Parker has blended his team into a hard-working bunch who have outscored their nine previous opponents 98-to-24. Easley has not allowed more than five runs by any other team.
"I know tonight is a big game for both teams," Parker said. "Probably bigger from the standpoint of the coaches and the parents than it is for the kids. They just want to go play and have fun. And I think the success of the team this season is mostly because the kids are having fun."
Parker said he has tried to mix his first-year players in with his seven veterans to create a solid lineup. So far, it has worked.
"You know, as a coach you most always have your big hitters in the top of the line up but there have been a couple of games when the bottom part of our lineup have paid off for us and won us some games," Parker added.
Parker says that his son, Seth, who has only struck out twice this season and Logan Laird have emerged as team leaders but added that his other eight-year-olds -- Tavian Banks, Larren Freeman, Juston Guyton, Weston Hess and Damond Watson -- are playing solid baseball for the team.
"Logan had a four home run game this season and has been the big hitter for us," Parker said. "He has been in a slight slump lately but he is okay. Seth may be the most consistent player in the line up. He always finds a way to get on base."
Seth leads the well-balanced Easley team in runs scored with 20 while three players -- Freeman, Weston Hess and Tanner Hess -- have scored 10 runs each. Watson has 11 and Laird has scored eight times.
Parker hopes tonight's game turns into a "lop-sided" affair.
"I don't like those nail-biter games," Parker said. "I just hope it is a good game and I hope our kids and Hartman's kids play well. It will be a test for both teams. We both hit the ball well."
Hight echoed those sentiments, with one exception. Hight would like to see a good, close game by both teams.
"We are making some adjustments," Hight said. "Because we picked up three players from Food Giant this week and we are trying to find the best ways they can help us."
The Food Giant team officially folded this week and several players were placed on other teams. Hartman picked up Jay Rice, Joseph Woods and Colton Hodges. Hodges and Woods are eight-year-olds while Rice is seven.
"Not only will they strengthen the batting order for us but I am trying to use them in the outfield to strengthen us in that area," Hight said. "I'm hoping they can take some of the distance off some of the hard hit balls to the outfield. Easley hits the ball hard. I hope our kids respond with their gloves."
Hartman, a new team in the league this year, has had as many as 15 kids on roster and as few as six.
There are four, however, who Hight says makes up the core of the team.
Chandler Walton, Zach Morris, Ethan Deere and Hight's son, Colby.
"Those four are the team leaders right now," Hight said. "And they are making the players around them better. Chandler has been batting clean up for us and is crushing the ball. Morris, a first-year player with lots of raw talent, has been the biggest surprise. Ethan gives us experience and Colby swings a good bat as well as having a good glove n the field."
Defensively, Walton will be at shortstop, Morris stands at first base, Colby anchors the pitchers circle while Deere sets up behind the plate. Hight will sometimes alternate Colby and Morris, who are the team's co-leaders in runs scored. Both players have scored 22 runs for Hartman while Walton has crossed home plate 17 times and Deere 14 times. Combined, the quartet accounts for 75 of the team's 94 runs scored in nine games.
Hartman has given up 31 runs this season -- 13 of that total in the loss to Vaccaro. No other team has scored more than eight runs against them.
"I think it will be a fun game for everyone tonight," Hight said. "If our kids play the best they can play and get beat, I can live with that. Baseball is a game, but it goes a long way in teaching kids some of the basic principles in life such as learning to win and knowing how to lose but most importantly, how to persevere and not quit."
After tonight, the two teams will meet twice more before the season ends on June 22.
Twillies Tigers won for the second time in four games Tuesday, putting away Lions Club 10-1, in the Minor (pitching machine) League.
Twillies got three runs from Anthony Jenkins and two runs from T. Caleb Bean.
Tajuan Whitby, Dwain Whitfield, Teven Brown and Jaquore Marrs each scored one run.
Paxton Mills doubled and scored the only Lions Club run.
Twillies improves to 4-6 for the year.
Also Tuesday, Vaccaro got back on the winning track with an 11-1 win over Arkansas Electric.
Ethan Adams and Tyler Wilson each scored three runs to pace Vaccaro, which improves to 7-2 and holds fast to third place in the league standings.
Jared Haynie added two runs for the winners while Cody Tittle and Kenny Ivory scored single runs.
Vaccaro pounded out 13 hits and slammed three home runs -- one each by Wilson, Haynie and Tittle.
Arkansas Electric had just four hits while 12 of their hitters struck out.
Ashash Peter scored the team's only run in the bottom of the fifth.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Undefeated Kerby's and Gym 2000 will meet tonight in a big game in the adult men's softball league.
Both teams are 5-0 and they will face each other for the first time tonight at 8 p.m., on Field 3.
Also tonight, in the Bambino 11-12 League, Cochran will take on Derrick CPA at 6 p.m. and Mr. T Auto will battle Lucas Trucking at 7:30 p.m.
Both games are make up games and both games will be played on Field 5.
The league will make up its other rainout date on Monday, June 14.
Lucas will looking to stay undefeated tonight while Cochran will be trying to make up some ground in the league.
Headed into tonight's game, Cochran is in third place in the league standings at 5-3 behind second-place Robert's Welding, who does not play until Monday.
The Junior Babe Ruth League will play its final regular season games tonight before making up the two rain out dates next week.
Taylor Glass leads the league at 5-1 while Machen Ford is a game back at 4-1.
In girls softball, the girls' district tournament will be played Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Wynne.
The 10-under slow pitch bracket includes Forrest City teams Walker Insurance and Forrest City Bank while the 12-under fast pitch bracket includes Delta Breeze.
The Dixie Chix will play from the 14-under fast pitch bracket while Pizza Inn will be in the 16-under fast pitch bracket.
Alan Curtis' shot hit the green on No. 15, about a half inch from the pin and disappeared.
Curtis was overjoyed. He had just hit his first-ever hole-in-one. He has been playing golf for 20 years.
Curtis, playing with Cleo Perry, Ron Killingsworth, Benny Parker and Van Baker at Forrest City Country Club Wednesday, used a 9-iron on the 130 yard No. 15 to make the shot.
"It hit right at the pin and just rolled in," Curtis said of the highlight shot.
"It was fun to hit it and more fun to watch it go in the hole," Curtis said. "I'm not a very good golfer, but Wednesday, I was just lucky."
Curtis, of Forrest City, is the manager of Crestpark Nursing Home.
The annual Flat as a Pancake 5K Run/Walk will be held Saturday, June 12, in Wynne.
The event begins at 8 a.m., and will be held rain or shine.
The pre-race day entry fee is $15 and $20 on race day. For more information, call 870-238-5528.