PRAIRIE GROVE -- The Pea Ridge baseball team traveled to Prairie Grove to compete in the first annual Jarren Sorters Memorial Baseball Tournament last week.
The Blackhawks (9-2) won by an 11-0 five-inning run-rule margin against Ozark (4A-4) in their final game of the three-day tournament Thursday. Freshman Tate Busey and sophomore Landon Allison combined to pitch a shut-out. Busey threw 71 pitches and Allison 17 in blanking the Hillbillies. After a scoreless first inning, the Blackhawks took a 1-0 lead in the second, then added three runs in the third before a 7-run explosion in the fifth ended the game early.
Pea Ridge 8, Booneville 7
On March 22, Pea Ridge (8-2) edged 4A-4 Booneville, a foe they could encounter at Regionals. The game was tied at 7-7 after six innings. In the top of the seventh, Jakota Sainsbury did a number on the Bearcat lineup. He induced Cam Brasher into a ground-out, but had to cover first getting there in time for the force-out. Sainsbury then got Wyatt Rongey to fly out, but the Bearcats got a runner on when Gabe Fennell's grounder took an unfavorable bounce and he beat a throw to first. No problem, Sainsbury's next pitch was popped up to third base to end Booneville's last at-bat if the contest didn't go extra innings.
The Blackhawks went to bat with coach John King exhorting them to make a play. Hayden Holtgrewe did his part, smashing a triple that developed as much on his legs as his bat. With the running win 90-feet away, the stage was set for Will Feemster, a former teammate of Jarren Sorters when the boys played for the NWA Ghosts, a traveling team. With one out, Feemster bunted a 1-1 pitch that virtually halted in front of the plate and took off toward first. With the Booneville catcher forced to stand pat with a runner charging home, the Bearcat pitcher had to make a play and he delivered a toss to the plate a fraction of a second too late.
Senior A.J. Anderson drove in a run with a sacrifice fly as the Blackhawks scored first, taking a 1-0 lead in the second inning. With two outs in the third, Sainsbury took a 3-1 pitch and smacked a two-run double increasing the Blackhawk lead to 3-0. Booneville loaded the bases in the fourth. One run was walked in and a second scored on an error. A critical play occurred when the umpire ruled a base-runner ran into the Blackhawk catcher knocking the ball out of his hand. This erased one of two runs the Bearcats thought they had, leaving the game tied at 3-3.
Booneville came back with four more runs in the top of the fifth to move in front 7-3. Sophomore Michael Hesson doubled to drive in a run for the Bearcats. Another run scored on a wild pitch and with the bases loaded Booneville walked in back to back runs. King changed pitchers and Sainsbury held the runners while getting a fly-out to end the inning. He helped his cause by reaching on an error which scored a Pea Ridge run, narrowing the gap to 7-4 at the end of the fifth.
Two Blackhawks walked in the sixth with a run scoring as Tyler Odell reached on an error. With runners in prime position at second and third, Anderson drove in two runs, the second of which tied the game at 7-all, sliding-in for a double. This set the stage for Feemster's last at-bat heroics.
Bentonville West 8, Pea Ridge 5
Pea Ridge (7-2) faced 7A West newcomer Bentonville West (5-3) on March 21. The Wolverines scored four runs in second and third innings to take an early lead. West had four hits in the second inning. Marlin Keller followed a walk to Zach Trammell and a double by Jason Gloeckler with a two RBI triple. Keller stole home when the Blackhawk catcher threw to third base during a rundown. Chandler Tidwell doubled to drive in a run for Pea Ridge, but West's Joey Haden had a two-run double and McDonald added an RBI single as the Wolverines added four runs to take an 8-1 lead.
Pea Ridge produced a single run in the fifth inning before getting three in the seventh to make a late charge. The Blackhawks rallied for three runs and had the tying run at the plate in the seventh. Westin Church had a two-run double, and Hayden Holtgrewe single RBI made the score 8-5. West sophomore right-hander Dakota McDonald then recorded the final two outs. He got Landon Allison out on a fly ball to right field, then induced Dillon Workes to pop-up to second base to end the Pea Ridge threat.
Sports on 03/29/2017