By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
And then there was only one.
The much anticipated matchup between Walker Insurance and Forrest City Bank failed to supply the drama most thought the game would provide.
Going into Friday's game, both teams were unbeaten in their respective divisions in the 10-under girls' slow pitch softball league.
A two-run, second inning was more than enough to give Walker the win, but the team went on to score a 9-1 victory to remain unbeaten at 7-0 and in complete control of the National Division.
Walker leads its two closest challengers -- Stevens and Southern Furniture -- by three games. Both Stevens and Southern are tied for second at 4-3.
Walker stretched its 2-0 lead into a 4-0 lead with two runs in the fourth inning and then plated five runs in the final inning for good measure.
Forrest City Bank did not get on the board until the fifth inning when Kayla Qualls got on base and scored.
Even though, Forrest City Bank slips to 6-1 for the year, the team still leads the American Division.
Forrest City Bank's one run was the sixth time this season that Walker has held a team to six runs or less. Walker has outscored its opponents through seven games 85-to-34.
Bailey Hunt and Briana Burke led the way Friday by scoring two runs each.
Kelsey Morris, Maurielle Hunt, Heaven Jackson, Ebony Davis and JaKayla Burke each scored single runs.
Stevens scored its five run limit in the bottom of the third inning Friday to hold off Southern Furniture 10-6 in another key National Division matchup
Southern led 6-5 going into the bottom of the third, led by Jade Haymer and Haley Morris, who had combined to score four of the team's six runs.
Stevens sent nine batters to the plate to put up the five runs for the come-from-behind win.
Bailey Dillinger, Lindsay Leake and Breyunna Williams led Stevens by scoring two runs each while Sara Beth Blaylock, Caroline Nimocks and Charnell Mayo added single runs.
Dr. Schwartz improved to 2-5 for the year by taking an 11-0 win over Children's Clinic Friday night.
Morgan Hight scored three runs to lead Dr. Schwartz while Katie Davis and Breanna Epps scored two runs each.
Schwartz put up its five-run limit in the first and second innings.
Children's Clinic loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the second inning but failed to score.
Food Giant stayed in second place in the American Division but had to score a single run in the bottom of the third inning to break a 9-9 tie for a 10-9 win over Sanyo.
The Food Giant win ended a two-game losing streak by the team and snapped a two-game winning streak by Sanyo, which falls to 3-4 for the year.
Sanyo took a 5-0 lead in the top of the first before Food Giant tied the game with five runs in the home half of the inning.
A two-run, second inning put Sanyo in front 7-5 before Food Giant scored four times in their portion of the second inning for a 9-7 lead.
Sanyo added two runs in the third to tie before Food Giant was able to push home the winning run.
Food Giant got two runs from Diamondnique Lacy and single runs from Iyana Butler, sisters Alexandria and Antonia Clinton, Tearra Howard, Alexus Clardy and Briana and LaPorsha Parchman.
Maggie Pipkin led Sanyo by scoring twice while Lindsey Smith, Rodshanik Brown, Courtney Hodges, Kirbi Stotts, D'Aujanne Powell, Jami Fisher and Natalie Turner added single runs.
B&E Tire picked up its first win of the season Friday when the team was awarded a forfeit win over True Value, who failed to produce enough players to complete the game.
Krishanna London, Natalie Renigar and Shelby Clark each scored two runs for B&E while Kamona Phillips added a single run.
Jasmine Lankford and Ashley McArthur each scored three times for True Value, who fielded only six players.
JACKSONVILLE -- Fat City won the third and final Upper Leg of theArkansas Democrat-Gazette's Triple Crown of Softball Sunday.
Fat City defeated LTB Hustlers 27-26 in the final Sunday at Dupree Park in Jacksonville.
The game was tied going into the sixth inning. Fat City held LTB Hustlers scoreless in the top half and then scored what became the winning run in the home half.
Fat City fell behind 20-11 before putting together a rally to tie the score in the third inning.
*Minor Threat of Jonesboro came out of the losers bracket to defeat John Wilkett Enterprise 24-12 and win the third leg's middle division title.
Tim Sandborn drove in six runs to lead Minor Threat in the title game.
Bryant Chiropractic Bonecrushers won the middle division's overall championship.
*Steve Gray tripled in the ninth inning and scored on Chad Garber's single to lift STS to a 5-4 victory over JB's Auto Salvage in the lower division final.
JB's Auto Salvage won the overall championship in the division despite losing the third-leg final.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
First National Bank moved into third place in the Bambino 9-10 League standings Friday with a punishing 22-2 win over Sanyo.
Two First National players - Michael Ludwig and Zane Walton, each scored four times to lead the offensive assault which saw every First National player score.
First National led 9-1 after one inning and 14-2 after two innings before ending the game with an eight-run, third.
Hakeem Palmer and Jacob Tittle scored three runs each while Jordan Chatters, Darrien Green and Mercedes Smith added two runs.
Dalton Quinn and Luke Conner scored single runs.
Ludwig and Tittle hit home runs for First National Bank.
Sanyo got a run from James Alldredge in the first inning and a run from Matt Lansford in the second.
Leslie Construction stayed perfect by winning its seventh consecutive game, an 18-4 win over Pearson Insurance.
The win keeps Leslie two games ahead of second-place Sanyo.
Joseph Tripp, Calvin Hodges and John Gilbreath each scored three times to pace Leslie.
Hodges and Blake Lester each hit home runs. James Pendergrass, T. Giles White and Nathan Standridge each helped in the Leslie scoring effort.
Antonio Sanders scored two of Pearson's four runs while Quenton Funches and Jon Vowans scored single runs.
Food Giant downed Taco Bell 12-2 Friday night to stay in fourth place in the league standings at 4-3.
A.J. McKnight, Brian Morgan and Malik Avant all scored for Food Giant.
Taco Bell got runs from Damoni Franklin and Elbert Hamilton.
Joey's Muffler used a big 11-run first inning to put away Giffin's Grins 13-6 Friday night.
Giffins scored all six of its runs in the top of the third inning.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Vaccaro picked up its third straight win Friday by being awarded a forfeit win over Food Giant in the Minor (pitching machine) League.
Vaccaro stands at 5-1 and is tied for second place in the league standings with Hartman Diesel.
In the late game Friday, Easley stayed unbeaten at 7-0 by taking down Twillies Tigers 9-5.
Roy Like scored twice for Easley Law while the team got single runs from Larren Freeman, Weston Hess, Tavian Banks, Seth Parker, Damond Watson, Justin Guyton and Yoshi Ogawa. Like hit a home run in the second inning.
Anthony Jenkins scored twice for the Tigers. Dwain Whitfield hit a home run while Teven Brown and Tyler Holmes added single runs.
There will be no league games played tonight at the Sports Complex in honor of the Memorial Day holiday.
Play will resume Tuesday night when Hartman Diesel takes on Arkansas Electric Outlet in the 6 p.m. game. Ridout will face the Lions Club in the late matchup.
The Forrest City Post 4 American Legion baseball team will host Newport Tuesday at the Sports Complex.
The doubleheader will start at 5:30 p.m.
The game will be a rematch of Sunday's doubleheader at Newport.
As of press time, the final scores from Sunday's twinbill were still not known.
Forrest City will open play Thursday in Jonesboro at the Creative Edge Classic.
The team will play its first two pool play games at ASU before moving to Nettleton High School for the final game. The tournament will run through Sunday.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- John Daly probably won't be playing in the U.S. Open this year.
The heavy-hitting golfer from Dardanelle needed a good performance in the St. Jude Classic, and he fell a bit short.
The U.S. Open takes the top 50 players in the world, and Daly was ranked 54th before this weekend's tournament. On Sunday, he finished at 1-under-par 283, in a tie for 42nd.
The winner was David Toms, defending his title in the same tourney last year. Toms was way out in front to start play Sunday, and that stood him in good stead. He shot a two-over 73 yesterday, but still finished at 16-under for the tourney. His 268 put him six strokes ahead of runner-up Bob Estes.
Three other Arkansas golfers who made the St. Jude cut didn't fare very well, either.
Bryce Molder of Conway finished at 285, one over par. Brothers
Brenden and Deane Pappas -- both former Razorbacks like Daly --
were further back. Brenden Pappas ended the last round with a
four-day total of 287, while his brother was the tail-ender, in
last place at 298 -- 14 over par.
The Challange girls softball tournament will be played at the Trumann Sports Complex, Saturday and Sunday, June 5-6, for coach-pitch teams ages six and under and eight and under.
An eight-under pitching machine division will be in as will 10-under fast pitch.
Entry fee $85.00 per team and the deadline to enter is Wednesday
June 2, at 5 p.m. Contact Garry at 870-243-3903