Friday, the Arkansas Activities Association decided to push back the start of the state baseball and softball tournament to today.
As it turned out, the decision was good one. Almost the entire state was blanketed by rain on Saturday.
Although start times for first round games will remain the same, there were some necessary site changes in the Class AAAAA and Class A baseball tournaments.
Searcy, co-champions of the AAAAA-East Conference, will play Russellville today at 5 p.m., at Bryant High School.
The Lions will be joined by East conference members Jonesboro, Blytheville and Mountain Home.
Three other AAAAA opening round games will be played today in Bryant while the other four games will remain at Benton High School as scheduled.
Meanwhile, the Jonesboro Hurricane, who shared the AAAAA-East title with Searcy, find themselves in a familiar place with unfamiliar faces.
Jonesboro begins state tournament play today against Little Rock Central in the first round of the Class AAAAA state high school baseball tournament at Benton High School.
Jonesboro (22-10) earned a share of the AAAAA-East conference title last week with a doubleheader sweep of Mountain Home to advance to the state playoffs for the second straight year after winning the conference outright last year.
This year, however, the Hurricane has little experience when it comes to postseason play.
Not a single starter on the entire Jonesboro baseball team resides from the Hurricane's senior class. In fact, outfielder Jim Harris is the only senior on the team.
It's definitely not the same team that won the AAAAA-East crown a year ago.
Jonesboro had eight seniors graduate from last year's team, which lost to Little Rock Catholic in the first round of the state playoffs.
Jonesboro will send junior right-hander Jack McGrath in the tournament opener against Little Rock Central, the No. 3 seed from the AAAAA-Central. McGrath (8-2) has held opponents to just a .164 batting average this season.
He is closing in on the school record for strikeouts in a season, having struck out 96, and has allowed just 11 earned runs in 57-1/3 innings for an earned run average of 1.32.
In McGrath's last outing, a 12-2 victory against Mountain Home, he struck out nine batters while allowing two earned runs on four hits and three walks.
McGrath relied mostly on his fastball.
Jonesboro's offense starts with leadoff hitter Derrick Coleman, a junior who moved to second base from shortstop and leads the Hurricane with a .440 batting average.
Junior designated hitter Nick Culpepper is second on the team in batting at .408 while sophomore Cody Pace is hitting .355.
Sophomore Murray Watts is Jonesboro's clean-up hitter, batting .372.
Smith leads the team with six home runs while Watts has driven in a team-high 37. Watts and Coleman started and played last year in Jonesboro's state playoff game so today's single-elimination postseason tournament format will be nothing new to them.
Jonesboro has been successful in 55 of 60 stolen base attempts overall.
In the Class AAAA tournament at Wilbur H. Mills High School in Little Rock, the Nettleton Raiders won't begin their quest until Tuesday at noon when they face Magnolia.
The Raiders (20-11), who finished second in the AAAA-East, haven't yet decided on who will start from the mound. Senior right-hander Justin McGarity (6-2) has been the team's ace, making every start as the team's No. 1 pitcher in conference play.
McGarity is likely to be the choice. But junior left-hander Jason Dillon (3-3) could be the starter.
McGarity has a 2.07 ERA and has struck out 50 in 471/3 innings this season to lead the NHS pitching staff. But Dillon has come on strong recently after an adjustment to his pitching motion.
Dillon has a 2.54 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 30-1/3 innings.
Nettleton started the season 3-7 but went on an 11-game winning streak. The team is led by Dillon and junior catcher Daniel Mullis at the plate. Mullis is batting .407 with five home runs and 37 RBIs. Dillon is batting .384 with seven homers and 38 RBIs.
Nettleton has stolen 74 bases as a team, led by senior outfielder Scott Steele with 19. Senior shortstop Steven Estell has 13 steals and Dillon has stolen 10.
The Raiders' pitching staff has a team earned run average of just 2.55 and includes three starters -- Ryan Blackburn, 4-1 with a 2.53 ERA and has a team-high 55 strikeouts while Jeremy Howard is 3-2 with a 2.41 ERA. Also for NHS, Jesse Poyner is 3-1 with a 2.33 ERA.
In the state softball tournaments, Beebe, which finished fourth in AAAA-East, will take on AAAA-Southwest champion Hope at 1:30 p.m. today at Batesville High School.
Riverview will make its state softball tournament debut today against Booneville at 3:15 p.m. in Nashville.
In the Class AA tournament today at Harrison, Harding Academy will play Foreman at 10 a.m. and Rose Bud will face Riverside at 1:30 p.m.
In the Class AAAAA state fast-pitch tournament, Jacksonville, Cabot, Mountain Home and West Memphis represent to East conference.
All of the baseball and softball championship games will be played in Fayetteville on Saturday.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
A limited version of the Forrest City youth baseball season will officially get under way tonight at the Sports Complex.
Despite rain Sunday night, program director Kenneth Taylor said the fields are good and the games will be played.
There are only five games scheduled tonight on three fields -- all on the baseball side of the complex.
In the Minor League (pitching machine) for youths ages 7-8, Ridout will take on Arkansas Electric Outlet at 6 p.m. followed by the Forrest City Lions Club taking on Hartman Diesel at 7:30 p.m. Both games will be played on Field 7
Arkansas Electric Outlet is coached this year by Toby Jackson and the team's make up is mostly seven-year-olds. Aaron Cole will coach the Ridout team.
Don Mills will be calling the shots for the Lions Club team while Michael Hight is the coach of Hartman Diesel.
The other three opening-night games are in the Bambino (11-12) League.
Cochran Auto, led by long-time youth league coach Wayman Cochran will take on Lucas trucking led by another long-time program coach, Jim Bailey at 6 p.m., on Field 5 while Derrick CPA, coached by Larry Derrick will take on Tommy Talley's Robert's Welding team at 6 p.m. on Field 6. The late game, at 7:30 on Field 5, features Houser, coached by Ken Siler and Eric Wall, taking on Mr. T Auto, led by Timothy Quinn.
On Tuesday, the T-Ball, Bambino (9-10)League and the girls' 10-under softball leagues will open play.
The second annual AAU Fireball Classic girls' basketball tournament will be playedFriday through Sunday, May 14-16, at P.A.R.K. in Little Rock.
The tournament has seven divisions beginning with 10-under and ranging through 17-under.
AAU teams, as well as school teams are encouraged to take part in the tournament.
Awards will be given for first and second-place teams.
The tournament entry fee is $150 per team and the deadline to enter is May 7.
Contact Jeff Spaletta 501-612-3449 or Rich Hays 501-539-2514.
The Trumann Baseball Invitational and the T-Town Girls' Softball tournamentswill be held in Trumann, May 7-8.
For more information about either of the two tournaments, call James Evans at 870-919-3400 or Sharon Turman at 870-483-1098 or 870-972-0566.