HIGH SCHOOL WEIGHTLIFTING
Greenwood wins overall title
Greenwood won the overall Arkansas state high school weightlifting title Saturday afternoon at the state weightlifting championships at Alma High School. The Bulldogs, competing in Class 7A/6A, lifted a combined 5,140 pounds. John Womack won the individual title in the heavyweight class with 675 pounds for Greenwood. Clarksville and Wynne tied for the Class 5A title with 4,640 pounds. Fountain Lake earned the 4A crown with 4,850 pounds. Benton Harmony Grove (4,770 pounds) and Junction City (4,960) won the Class 3A and 2A titles, respectively. Benton’s Adonte Winston lifted a meet-high 690 pounds in the 220-pound weight class.
— Jeremy Muck
BASEBALL
Home run lifts UAFS
Kasey Cooper hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to give Arkansas-Fort Smith a 6-5 victory over Texas-Permian Basin on Saturday at Crowder Field in Fort Smith. Josh Vanderpool singled to left, and Cooper took Chris Cano’s first pitch over the wall. Arkansas-Fort Smith (21-18, 10-11 Heartland Conference) was led by Alex Fernandez, who went 2 for 3 with a double. Tyler Houlihan went 1 for 5 with 2 RBI. Starter Evan Sanders (6-4) pitched a complete-game victory, allowing 5 runs — 4 earned — on 4 hits with 8 walks and 9 strikeouts. Cano (3-4) allowed 6 runs — 4 earned — on 7 hits with 4 walks and 4 strikeouts over 7 innings for Texas-Permian Basin (16-27, 8-13).
UAM sweeps SE Oklahoma
Arkansas-Monticello defeated Southeastern Oklahoma State 13-3 and 6-5 Saturday in Monticello, meaning the Boll Weevils (30-11, 20-7 GAC) can finish no lower than second and will host a first-round game in the conference tournament May 6-7. In the first game, Kevin Fitzpatrick had a bases-loaded triple in the second. Corey Wood had a three-run home run in the fourth. Travis Steinke had a grand slam in the fifth. Brandon Chambers (9-0) allowed 3 runs on 6 hits with 2 strikeouts and 4 walks in a complete-game victory. In the second game, scheduled for seven innings, Fitzpatrick sent the game into extra innings with a two-run home run, which highlighted a comeback after Southeastern Oklahoma built a 4-0 lead in the first five innings. Guy Halbert hit a two-run single in the top of the eighth. Southeastern Oklahoma got one back in the bottom of the eighth before Kregg Snook retired the final two batters to secure the victory.
Reddies split with Oklahoma Baptist
Henderson State (29-15, 19-11 GAC) defeated Oklahoma Baptist 10-5 and lost 2-1 Saturday at Clyde Berry Field in Arkadelphia. The Reddies overcame a 3-0 deficit in the first inning to tie the game 3-3 in the second when Jared Gage hit a sacrifice fly to score Hayden Lessenberry, and singles by Luke McGuire and Hunter Mayall tied the game at 3-3. The Reddies fell behind 4-3 in the third, but they scored three times in the bottom half of the inning to lead 6-4 with McGuire and Mayall receiving bases-loaded walks and a sacrifice fly making it 6-4. The Reddies added one in the fifth and three more in the seventh. In the second game, Brandon Curry had a two-out infield single to score the winning run in the seventh.
SOFTBALL
Arkansas Tech splits with NW Oklahoma
Destiney Crumpley hit a three-run home run in the first inning to lift Arkansas Tech (44-7, 34-6 GAC) to a 5-1 victory over Northwestern Oklahoma State (11-41, 9-33) in the second game of a doubleheader in Russellville. Ashley Anderson had an RBI single in the third inning. Samantha Herweck grounded into a double play to score Megan Goodnight in the fifth inning for the other runs. Northwestern Oklahoma’s run came in the sixth when Madison McGraw scored on an error by Cumpley. Sydnee Clark (4-3) picked up the victory for the Golden Suns. Madison Garza (5-19) took the loss for Northwestern Oklahoma. In the first game, Northwestern Oklahoma won 3-2. McGraw’s single in the sixth scored Jordan Haya with the winning run. Karly Murray (4-10) picked up the victory for Northwestern Oklahoma while Kelsie Barker (7-2) took the loss in relief after pitching 2 innings.
OBU splits with Southern Nazarene
Ouachita Baptist defeated Southern Nazarene 13-11 in the second game of a doubleheader after losing 6-2 in the first game in Bethany, Okla. In the first game, the Crimson Storm scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth to break open a 2-2 game. In the second game, Ouachita Baptist overcame a 6-2 deficit in the third inning, which started when Alex Jennings drew a bases-loaded walk to score Kelly Powell. Kelsey O’Brien singled to left to score two runs to make it 6-5. Trailing 7-5 in the fifth, Ouachita Baptist scored eight runs on six hits to lead 13-7. Daniella Brantley scored on an error, and Delany Bono had an infield single with the bases loaded to tie the game at 7-7. Paige Purifoy doubled down the left-field line to score two to make it 9-7. Powell had a base hit to make it 10-7. Brantley had her second hit of the game to clear the bases to make it 13-7. Southern Nazarene scored four runs in the seventh to close to 13-11 before O’Brien struck out the final batter to secure the victory.
HSU, Oklahoma Baptist each get victory
Henderson State (32-24, 23-21 GAC) lost 7-5 and won 6-2 against Oklahoma Baptist on Saturday in Shawnee, Okla. In the first game, Oklahoma Baptist scored six runs in the third inning to lead 6-2 on five hits and two errors. HSU closed to 6-5 with Hope Patterson hitting a home run in the fourth and Caroline Cullins singling in Courtney Warren, and Keirsten Seahorn driving in Cullins. Oklahoma Baptist added one more in the bottom of the fifth when Jill Shipman doubled to center to score Miranda Garza. In the second game, Henderson State scored four runs in the fourth inning. Leading 2-0 going into the fourth, Ashlyn White grounded out to score Shayla Wright, and Warren scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-0. Patterson hit a two-run home run to make it 6-0. Oklahoma Baptist scored its runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Michelle Sorenson struck out seven in a complete-game victory for the Lady Reddies.
Harding takes two from SW Oklahoma
After losing the suspended game 8-5 to Southwestern Oklahoma State (17-35, 15-27) Saturday, Harding (34-22, 26-18 GAC) won the last two games of the series 5-3 and 7-2 Saturday in Searcy. The suspended game was picked up after the fourth inning from Friday due to darkness. Southwestern Oklahoma scored four runs on six hits in the fourth inning to take a 6-5 lead. Southwestern Oklahoma added two more in the sixth when MacKenzie Jones hit a two-run home run. In Harding’s 5-3 victory, the Lady Bisons added four runs on two hits in the fifth with Kinsey Beck hitting a two-run double. Southwestern Oklahoma scored three times in the seventh when Emily Garcia doubled in two runs and Samantha Perry drove in another. In Harding’s 7-2 victory, Harding scored four runs in the first on a two-run home run by Peyton Mills. Kimmy Hendricks added a solo home run in the fifth.