Conway Coach Noel Boucher wasn't expecting this.
The Wampus Cats will play Bentonville for the Class 7A state baseball title today at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville, but the longtime Conway coach admits a 24-4 record and a berth in the state championship game seemed unlikely when the season started.
High school baseball championships
All games at Baum Stadium, Fayetteville
TODAY’S GAMES
CLASS 4A
Arkadelphia vs. Star City, 10 a.m.
CLASS 1A
Armorel vs. Taylor, 12:30 p.m.
CLASS 7A
Conway vs. Bentonville, 3 p.m
CLASS 2A
Magnet Cove vs. Ouachita, 5:30 p.m.
SATURDAY’S GAMES
CLASS 3A
Mayflower vs. Fordyce, 10 a.m.
CLASS 5A
Harrison vs. Whitehall, 12:30 p.m.
CLASS 6A
Benton vs. Sheridan, 3 p.m.
Conway had to replace six seniors off the 2014 team. Freshmen and sophomores dominate the 2015 roster.
"We were young, but we saw improvement," Boucher said. "We saw growth. We played some good people and the more we saw, we saw that they would be OK."
"Conway is always solid," Bentonville Coach Todd Abbott said. "They don't hurt themselves."
Conway is also winning more than its share of one-run games. The Wampus Cats were involved in six one-run games during conference play. They won five of those, two of them in extra innings.
The close games continued in the state tournament. Conway held off Fort Smith Southside 4-2 in the quarterfinals and edged Fayetteville 3-2 in the semifinals.
"Winning games that way will put you in a championship mode," Boucher said. "Being so young, we thought we'd lose most of those games, but we won most of them. We were way ahead of the curve."
With a team earned run average of 1.97 and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of almost 2-to-1, pitching has been a key to Conway's success. Matt Strickland (5-0, 2.04 ERA) is the Wampus Cats' projected starter for the championship game, but Boucher was unsure of the junior's status. Lane Carter (5-1, 3.37) or Cade Tucker (6-0, 0.60) could be called upon to start.
There is no doubt who Bentonville will send to the mound. Junior Kasey Ford (7-1, 1.73) has been one the state's best all season.
"He comes right at you, and he has a good defense behind him," Abbott said. "He's refined his game. He has sharp pitches and it just comes natural to him."
Boucher described Ford as "the real deal."
"He's going to be hard to handle," Boucher said. "If he's having a great day, it's going to be hard on us. If he's a little flat and leaves it up, then we might have a chance."
Conway is batting .303 as a team with Cade Tucker boasting a team-high .413 batting average. Bentonville's leading batter is senior shortstop Cody Scroggins, who is hitting .398.
"There are no such things as little things when it comes to baseball," Abbott said. "Everything is important. I expect if there is a mistake, then it's going to depend if the other team can capitalize on it."
Sports on 05/22/2015