GENTRY --A five-run fifth inning was more than enough cushion for Prairie Grove starter Logan Gragg to finish off Gravette during a 10-3 victory in the 4A-1 Conference Tournament on Thursday.
The victory secures the Tigers' spot in the 4A North Regional, which they're hosting next week.
PREP BASEBALL
4A-1 Conference Tournament
at Gentry
Thursday
Game 1: No. 5 Gravette 3, No. 8 Lincoln 2
Game 2: No. 6 Gentry 5, vs. No. 7 Berryville 1
Game 3: No. 4 Prairie Grove 10, Gravette 3
Game 4: No. 3 Huntsville vs. Gentry, (n)
Today
Game 5: No. 1 Shiloh Christian vs. Prairie Grove, 11 a.m.
Game 6: No. 2 Pea Ridge vs. Game 4 winner, 1:30 p.m.
Monday
Championship
Game 7: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 6 p.m.
- Top 4 teams advance to 4A North Regional at Prairie Grove, May 5-7
3A-1 Conference Tournament
at Elkins, April 27-29
Thursday
Game 1: No. 3 West Fork 12, No. 6 Cedarville 1
Game 2: No. 5 Elkins 6. No. 4 Lavaca 3
Today
Game 3: No. 1 Mansfield vs. Elkins, 4 p.m.
Game 4: No. 2 Greenland vs. West Fork, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, noon (Championship)
*Top 4 teams advance to 3A West Regional at Atkins, May 5-7
PREP SOFTBALL
4A-1 District Tournament
at Gentry, April 27-30
Thursday
Game 1: No. 6 Gentry 7, No. 7 Huntsville 0
Game 2: No. 5 Prairie Grove 14, No. 4 Gravette 6
Game 3: No. 3 Lincoln 6, Gentry 0
Today
Game 4: No. 1 Berryville vs. Prairie Grove, 11 a.m.
Game 5: No. 2 Pea Ridge vs. Lincoln, 1 p.m.
Game 6: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 4 p.m. (Championship)
*Top 4 teams advance to 4A North Regional at Prairie Grove, May 5-7
3A-1 West District Tournament
at Elkins, April 28-30
Thursday
Game 1: No. 3 Greenland 6, vs. No. 6 Mansfield 2
Game 2: No. 4 Lavaca 1, No. 5 Cedarville 0
Today
Game 3: No. 1 West Fork vs. Cedarville, 4 p.m.
Game 4: No. 2 Elkins vs. Greenland, 6 p.m.
Saturday
Game 5: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, noon (Championship)
*Top 4 teams advance to 3A West Regional at Atkins, May 5-7
"We do feel better punching our ticket [to regionals] today," said Prairie Grove first-year coach Chris Mileham. "It takes a little [pressure] off, but there's a lot of work left to do."
That sets up a rematch against top-seeded Shiloh Christian at 11 a.m. today. The Tigers are the only 4A-1 team to defeat the Saints when Gragg struck out 11 during a 2-1 win on April 4. However, Gragg won't pitch after throwing 103 pitches (75 for strikes) in Thursday's victory.
Gragg, who entered the tournament leading the league with 80 strikeouts in 48 innings, had struck out just four Lions through the first five innings.
"We knew we were going to face Gragg and rose to the challenge, in my opinion," said Gravette coach Randall Hunt. "We had a great approach, but tip my cap to him, he's an outstanding pitcher with a very bright future ahead of him."
The Connors State signee struck out five while retiring the final six batters in order. He allowed just one earned run on five hits and finished with 9 strikeouts by throwing first-pitch strikes to 21 of the 29 batters he faced. Gragg said it "feels great" to make it to regionals and said he was extra fired up after his team's five-run fifth inning.
"The momentum had me going," Gragg said. "Our defense was playing well behind me and our dugout was impressive -- It was a great time."
Gravette had trimmed the Tigers' lead to 5-3 with two runs in the top of the fifth inning.
"When Gravette threw up that two spot, it looked like they were going to kind of crawl back into it," Mileham said. "And we responded with five runs in the bottom [of the inning]. That right there, in my mind, absolutely contributed to the tough early schedule that we put them through. And I think the best is yet to come."
Prairie Grove's offense exploded for 12 hits and were led by Gavin Heltemes (3 for 3 with three RBIs) and Clay Fidler (2 for 4 with three RBIs).
In Thursday's late game, Huntsville and Gentry played into extra innings as both teams battled for the final berth in next week's regional tournament.
Gravette 3, Lincoln 2
Kilby Roberts' RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning proved to be the game winner after Lincoln had evened the score at 2-2 thanks to a pair of Lions' errors and an RBI single by Tristan Young in the top of the inning.
Jace Russ hit an RBI triple and Chase Owens picked up an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the second inning off Wolves starter Garrett Blankenship, who allowed four hits.
Lions freshman right-hander Hunter Cole allowed no earned runs on three hits in 6 2/3 innings while striking out 5 to record the win. Trey Nunnally got a pop-up for the final out to pick up the save.
Gentry 5, Berryville 1
Smartt, a freshman right-handr, pitched five shutout innings and helped his own cause by scoring two runs.
The Pioneers led 4-0 after two innings with Wyatt Clark's two-run single highlighting a three-run first inning. Taylor drove in Smartt on RBI double in the fourth inning to account for the rest of Gentry's offense.
The Bobcats plated their lone run when Seth Hemlinger singled, advanced to second on an error, to third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth inning.
Prep Softball
Prairie Grove 14, Gravette 6
After the fifth-seeded Lady Lions evened the score at 5-all in the fifth inning, the fifth-seeded Lady Tigers answered with seven runs in the sixth inning to take a commanding 12-5 lead.
With the win, Prairie Grove locks up a spot in next week's 4A North Regional on its home turf and advance to play top-seeded Berryville at 11 a.m. today.
Lincoln 6, Gentry 0
Senior right-hander Ashtyn Rothrock struck out 10 and scattered eight hits while tossing a complete-game shutout.
The third-seeded Lady Wolves earn a trip to next week's regional and will take on second-seeded Pea Ridge in today's conference semifinals at 1 p.m.
Gentry 7, Huntsville 0
Sophomore Alyssa Kelton tossed a four-hit shutout and got all the offensive help she needed when Harley Stanfield smashed a three-run homer in the fourth inning to help the Lady Pioneers advance.
Sports on 04/29/2016