BASEBALL
Cardinals capture top seed
Farmington coach Jay Harper took his team to dinner on its off-day Thursday, a well-deserved treat after the Cardinals won an outright 4A-1 Conference regular-season championship.
"It's our third in a row, and it's happened differently every time," Harper said. "It will put gray hair on you. But one thing is for certain -- our kids will battle unto the end.
"We have some young and inexperienced players, but they know their roles. And we have just enough pitching to be a dangerous team. This team, though, is just as hungry as the ones in the past."
Farmington (10-8, 6-1) needed a sixth-inning rally to take a 4-3 victory Tuesday at Huntsville. Morgan Schader, the No. 8 hitter in the Cardinals' lineup, belted a two-run double to give the Cardinals the lead after Zane Schmitt reached on an error and Klayton Clark singled.
That was all Farmington needed to get to clinch the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament, which means a bye to the semifinal round. The Cardinals, however, received a bonus when Pea Ridge defeated Gravette and made Farmington an outright league winner.
"I didn't learn about Gravette-Pea Ridge until our game was over," Harper said. "I just told our players before the game to take care of business in the things we can control and not depend on anybody else.
"And that was a timely hit by Schader, and he hit it hard. I thought at first it was out of the park with the way the wind was blowing, but it went into the gap in right-center field and over two players' heads."
Farmington, which earned an 11-10 victory Wednesday over Russellville, will play its first tournament game when it moves to Gravette for the semifinal round. Prairie Grove, the team that handed Farmington its only conference loss, and Huntsville are on the Cardinals' side of the bracket.
"There are six very good teams in our league this year," Harper said. "And the bad thing about that is two of those teams will be left at home when the regional tournament gets here. I'm glad we already have a spot in the regional because this conference is tough, and we're going to be ready for a tough tournament."
-- Henry Apple
SOFTBALL
Bentonville stays hot
Heading into a big home game Thursday night, the Lady Tigers (20-1, 9-0 6A-West) are preparing to defend their 6A state championship. An 18-game winning streak has the team playing with a lot of confidence, coach Kent Early said after Tuesday's 13-2 run-rule win at Bentonville West.
"I think we're showing a lot of discipline at the plate right now and that's what you have to have in state tournament play," Early said. "We're playing well and I think these players understand the gravity and the pressure of playing in the state tournament."
Bentonville has the benefit of a dynamic pitching tandem of junior Ryann Sanders and senior Kasey Wood. Sanders, the ace of the staff, is 18-1 with a 1.058 ERA and 112 strikeouts over 86 innings pitched. Wood (1-0) has moved into the closer role with five saves and a 0.269 ERA and 36 strikeouts over 26 innings pitched.
While the pitching has been phenomenal, so has the team's hitting. The Lady Tigers have a .381 team batting average, led by four players hitting over .400. Trista Peterson is batting .414 with eight home runs, and Wood has blasted seven homers. Peterson has 32 RBI and three other players have more than 20.
-- Chip Souza
Farmington riding hot streak
The Lady Cardinals will ride the momentum of a six-game win streak into next week's 4A-1 Conference tournament in Gravette, including a 10-0 shutout of Class 5A Greenwood on Wednesday.
Farmington (17-1) is the No. 2 seed entering the tournament behind 4A-1 regular season champion Gravette. Gravette and Farmington have both already clinched berths in the 4A-North Regional Tournament and will not play in the conference tournament until Thursday's semifinals in Gravette.
Lady Cardinals coach Jason Shirey said his team is playing with a lot of confidence right now and seem to be playing their best softball at just the right time.
"We're playing well and we're getting contributions from everybody in the lineup," Shirey said. "We finished the year the right way, but it's a whole new season and hopefully we can continue that momentum."
Farmington's lineup boasts six batters hitting above the .360 mark and two players (Katie Fleming and Justine Davidson) have five home runs.
Gravette's 10-6 win on April 7 is Farmington's lone loss of the season. Should both teams win their Thursday semifinal games, they would meet in the tournament championship game at 6 p.m. next Friday.
Shirey said his lineup has been solid from top-to-bottom all season long.
"It's been difficult this season putting a lineup together because so many of these kids can do so many things," Shirey said. "I don't think there is an easy out in our lineup, which makes it difficult for an opponent to pitch around anybody."
The 4A-1 tournament will kick off Monday as Huntsville will host Berryville. On Wednesday, Prairie Grove will host Gentry and Pea Ridge will host the winner of the Huntsville vs. Berryville game with both set to start at 5 p.m. The semifinals will be at 4 and 6 p.m. on Thursday at Gravette.
-- Chip Souza
TRACK AND FIELD
Six for Ozark's Woolsey?
When Eric Capp returned to Ozark to be the school's track and field coach, the first thing his fellow coaches did was give him a rundown on what to expect from Anna Woolsey.
Capp, who spent the last 10 years at Van Buren and 2 years at Cedarville before that, wasn't about to change a thing about the Lady Hillbillies' senior standout.
"I just looked at the events she had done and her performances, and said it looked good to me," he said.
Woolsey has made 50-point performances at track meets a common thing this spring as she usually competes in six events and takes first place in five of them. That includes the Last Chance Meet in Clarksville, where she won the 100, 200 and 400 meters along the 100 hurdles and the pole vault.
Capp said he expects Woolsey to do the same thing next week when the 4A-4 Conference meet will be held at Clarksville.
"She pretty much chooses to do what she does in a meet," Capp said. "I expect her to go out and do what she normally does during the conference meet. She's been hitting PRs in every meet this year, and I expect her to do the same. She's a special talent."
Woolsey, who has already signed a national letter of intent with Ouachita Baptist, currently has the state's best time in the 100 (12.31 seconds) and the 400 (57.41), and she has yet to be beaten in the 200 and the 400 so far this spring. She's also the defending Class 4A state champion in all three sprints.
Capp said she has put in extra work with the pole vault and cleared a personal-best 10 feet during the Gaile Hainley Relays earlier this month in Waldron.
-- Henry Apple
SOCCER
Lady Tigers hope to finish strong
Prairie Grove remains in contention for one of the top spots in the 4A West Conference despite a 1-0 defeat to Dardanelle earlier this week.
The loss was the first in league action for the Lady Tigers (8-1-1, 4-1), who play at Clarksville tonight before returning home on Monday to face Shiloh Christian in a matchup that'll likely determine which team hosts a first-round game for the conference tournament. First-place Dardanelle also beat Shiloh Christian 1-0 to hand the Lady Saints their only league loss.
"Dardanelle is a good team, but we were down three starters," Prairie Grove coach Tommy Roy said. "We have to look at this loss as a hiccup and just keeping playing."
Prairie Grove is a fast-paced team that likes to keep the pressure on, much like in basketball, to force mistakes that leads to offensive opportunities. Reese Powell leads Prairie Grove with nine goals after scoring only one goal last season as a sophomore. Mia Roy, the coach's daughter, has three goals and she is among the state's leaders with 13 assists. Ali Ridolfi and Ella Faulk, who each had goals in a 2-0 win over rival Farmington, are also top players along with Alaina Kirik, a versatile athlete who moves seamlessly from defense to offense when needed.
For the season, Prairie Grove has scored 42 goals and allowed only four goals.
"In all the years I've coached, this is one of my favorite teams," said Roy, a former athletic director who returned to coaching this season for Prairie Grove. "We have really good kids who give maximum effort out there. They've improved a lot."
-- Rick Fires
RIVER VALLEY
Greenwood in 1st-place tie
The Bulldogs remained in a first-place tie in the 5A-West with two wins at home on Tuesday against Mountain Home.
Grant Karnes was 3-for-3 in the opening 11-5 win while also scoring twice and knocking in two runs. Braden Skaggs had two hits and drove in three runs.
Aiden Kennon improved to 7-0, allowing four hits over six innings.
In the nightcap, Karnes struck out nine and allowed six hits in a 6-5 win to improve to 6-0.
Weston Pschier singled down the right-field line cracked a 5-5 tie in the bottom of the seventh. Pschier was 3-for-4. Harrison Adams had a single, a double and a triple with two runs scored.
Kennon also had a pinch-hit single that scored two runs.
The wins kept Greenwood (15-5, 10-0) tied with Greenbrier (15-5, 10-0) at the top of the standings. Greenwood travels to Alma (7-14, 4-6) on Tuesday while Greenbrier hosts Mountain Home (12-6, 6-4) for varsity doubleheaders. Greenbrier will play at Greenwood on May 2. Doubleheaders begin at 4:30 p.m.
McDonald's Relays pushed back a day
The McDonald's Relays originally scheduled for Thursday was moved to today with the threat of storms on Thursday.
The track events will be held at Southside. The field events will be held at Ramsey Junior High.
The 3,200-meter relay will begin at 4 p.m. with girls first followed by boys. The remainder of the track events will begin at 5:15.
The field events will begin at 4 p.m. with the girls shot put.
Waldron will host the 3A-4 district track meet on Monday.
Mansfield will host the 2A-4 district track meet on Tuesday.
Clarksville will host the 4A-4 district track meet on Wednesday.
Van Buren will host the 5A-West district track meet on Thursday.