Greenland baseball didn’t show any signs of rust when it finally played its fi rst games since spring break Thursday.
The Pirates (4-5, 3-1) beat West Fork 8-6 and 10-3 to sweep a 3A-1 Conference doubleheader and claim sole possession of first place. Greenland has benefi ted from the play of the freshman duo of shortstop Logan Carr and catcher Michael McAdoo.
Carr is hitting nearly .600 and batting third. McAdoo is hitting around .350 while batting fi fth.
“We knew from working out in the fall and spring that (Carr) could play, but we had no idea he was going to make this big of an impact,” Greenland coach Andy Loyd said. “We know we’ve got some guys coming that we’re excited about that are playing pretty well.”
Greenland softball (4-2, 2-0) is also in first place in the conference. The Lady Pirates also got a big confi - dence boost in a 3-2 nonconference win over Fayetteville on Wednesday.
Greenland got payback for a 5-3 loss to the Lady Bulldogs in its season opener, shoring up a defense that gave up 10 errors in the March loss while senior Kaitlyn Stoltz was strong on the mound.
“We had three errors instead of 10,” Greenland coach Jacob Lisko said. “We handled the ball a lot better than the last time we played them.”
PEA RIDGE TRACK
Lady Blackhawks Win Title
The Lady Blackhawks put together a balanced effort to win the Gentry Pioneers Relays Thursday. Pea Ridge finished with 139.5 points while Gravette was second with 121 points.
Junior Mikaela Cochran won the high jump (4-10) and discus (92-10.5), took second in the 100 hurdles (18.15) and finished third in the shot (29-5) and 300 hurdles (53.33) to win high-point honors. Pea Ridge junior Liz McGowan was second in the shot with a toss of 29-8.5.
“Cochran has been scoring a lot of points for us this year,” Pea Ridge coach Heather Wade said. “She has won three high-point awards this year.”
Vanessa Wing took first in the 400 with a 1:08.25 and the Pea Ridge sophomore was also part of the winning 4x400 relay team. Other relay team members are Lexi Bradrick, Ashtyn Mondy and Vargas.
“This is the first year that Vanessa has run truck,” Wade said. “I’m really proud of all our kids. We don’t have a whole lot of numbers, but they do what I ask them to do.”
For the Blackhawks, senior Logan Rose took second in the high jump (6-0), third in the triple jump (40-5) and fifth in the long jump (20-4). Pea Ridge finished in seventh place.
— PAUL NIELSEN @NWAPAUL
GENTRY TRACK
Ellis, Morris Perform Well
Sophomore Mallory Morris and junior Zach Ellis have both enjoy huge performances for the Gentry track team this season.
Morris scored 41 points at Gentry’s own Pioneer Relays on Thursday. She won the 800 meters in 2 minutes, 35 seconds, 1600 (6:14) and 3200 (13:48). Morris also finished second in the triple jump with a leap of 31-9 and was sixth in the long jump (14-1). She also picked up the distance triple at the Tyson Relays in Green Forest a few weeks back and equaled her 41-point total.
Morris has already topped the qualifying standard of 2:32.85 for the Class 4A state meet in the 800.
Ellis has dominated the throw events for the Pioneers and did so again Thursday. He won both the shot put and discus for the third time in meet this season.
He led a 1-2-3 Gentry sweep in the shot put with a toss of 46-9. Teammates Stone Faulkenberry (43-0) and Alec Nelson (41-9) were second and third, respectively. Ellis won the discus with a throw of 131-2, while teammate Dakota Smith as third at 104-2.5.
WEST FORK TRACK
Distance Crew Excels
The duo of Jessie Slavens and Mason Held formed a potent 1-2 punch for the West Fork Tigers at the recent Tyson Invitational track and field meet at Green Forest.
The two had a hand in 20 of the Tigers’ 31 points in the meet. Slavens, a sophomore, finished third in the 3,200 meters and fourth in the 1600. Held was sixth in the 800. The two formed half of the Tigers’ 4x800 relay team, which fi nished third.
Sophomore Dalton Dickinson was also fourth in the 400. Kristen Benson was also fourth in the 1600 for the Lady Tigers.
— PAUL BOYD
• @NWAPAULB
GRAVETTE TRACK
Foster Leads Lions
Logan Foster picked up points in five events Thursday and helped Gravette’s boys finish third at the Pioneer Relays in Gentry.
Foster, a senior, highlighted his performance with a winning leap of 21 feet, 5 inches in the long jump. He also finished second in the triple jump and in the 400-meter dash, as well as fourth in the 200 and seventh in the high jump.
Gravette had two other fi rst-place finishes — Terence Pierce in the high jump (6-2) and Tyler Homer in the 110 hurdles (17.35 seconds) — and had 99 points in the meet.
On the girls side, Kylee Davis and Abby Leonard gave Gravette a one-two punch and helped the Lady Lions take second with 121 points.
Davis had two of Gravette’s three first-place finishes, winning the long jump (15-7.5) and the triple jump (32-6.5), while finishing fourth in the high jump. Leonard accounted for 27 points with her trio of second-place finishes in the 200 (28.14), the long jump (15-7) and the discus (82-7.5) and a sixth in the shot put.
The Lady Lions also won the 4x800 relay with a time of 12 minutes, 2.63 seconds.
— HENRY APPLE
• @NWAHENRY
FARMINGTON SOFTBALL
Lady Cards On Roll
Farmington is off to a 4-0 start in 4A-1 Conference play after piling up three league wins this week.
The Lady Cardinals defeated Prairie Grove, 12-2 on Tuesday, won against Berryville 11-1 on Wednesday and edged Gravette, 4-2 on Thursday. Jordin Smith picked up pitching wins in two of the three games and improved her record to 9-3 on the year. Smith is now carrying a 3.11 ERA on the season with 42 strikeouts in 60 2/3 innings pitched.
Farmington (11-4, 4-0) visits Ozark on Monday before returning home to play Pea Ridge on Thursday.
— VERNON TARVER * @NWAVERNON
PRAIRIE GROVE SOCCER Program Shows Progress
Prairie Grove has won four of five games in its fi rst year as a boys soccer program.
“We’re basically a sophomore team playing a JV schedule,” said Prairie Grove coach Craig Laird. “We’ve got 18 kids who are sophomores or freshmen, one junior, and one senior. It’s going pretty well for a fi rst-year program.”
The Tigers, who are not eligible for conference play this season, will play a home game against Gentry on Monday. Games are held on the football field at Tiger Stadium.
Prairie Grove also has a girls soccer team with over 25 players from grades 9 through 12. The Lady Tigers are coached by Darren Chandler.
— RICK FIRES
• @NWARICK
LINCOLN TRACK
Pitts, Rowe Lead Wolves
Alex Pitts and Charlie Rowe are two of the leaders for the track and field teams at Lincoln. Pitts is a top sprinter while Rowe is a field events performer who’s thrown 115 feet in the discus and 37 feet in the shot put.
Both played football for the Prairie Grove football team.
“We’re doing OK,” said Jim Meyers, who is in his fifth year as the track coach at Lincoln. “We fi nished eighth out of 15 teams in one meet and fifth out of 10 teams in another. We’re a little down this year, especially on the girls side.”
Lincoln will compete in a track meet at Harrison on Monday.
— RICK FIRES
• @NWARICK
SHILOH CHRISTIAN SOCCER
Key Match Awaits
Shiloh Christian will face its first real test of the soccer season on Tuesday when it travels to Harrison for a 5A-West Conference clash with the always powerful Lady Goblins.
The match was originally scheduled to be played at Champions Stadium, but the schools switched the schedule due to a track meet in Harrison later this spring. The match on May 8 will be played in Springdale.
Lady Saints coach Tommy Roy said the team is coming together after replacing several starters from last year’s 5A state champions.
“We’ve gone through some growing pains, but our chemistry has started to get better,” Roy said.
Caroline Bandy leads Shiloh Christian (6-0, 3-0 5A-West) with 14 goals and 8 assists.
Junior keeper Hannah McGee, who never played soccer before this season, has been stellar in the net, Roy said.
“She was a volleyball player and they always make great goalies,” he said. “She’s just done an unbelievable job.”
— CHIP SOUZA
• @NWACHIP
HUNTSVILLE SOFTBALL
Offensive Explosion
Huntsville racked up three home runs among its 17 hits in an impressive offensive display for a 16-7 nonconference win at West Fork on Thursday.
Taylor Bohannan, Emily Dotson and Mallory Cornett all homered to lead the Lady Eagles’ explosive offensive performance, while Chandler Sone went 4-for-5 at the plate with a double, four RBIs and four runs scored in the lopsided win.
“We had a little wind, but we were hitting the ball well up and down the lineup,” Huntsville coach Greg Sone said. “Several people with multiple hits.”
The big day should build momentum for the Lady Eagles 3-6, 0-2 5A-West), which will try to earn their first conference win in a home doubleheader against Alma on Friday.
“That does great things for your confidence,” Sone said. “We just need to get some consistency going. Like everybody else, with this weather, you just can’t get in a groove. Hopefully that starts our groove.”
Greenland will participate in a one-day tournament in Harrison today.
— JIMMY CARTER
• @NWAJIMMY