The Blackhawk baseball and softball teams rolled through their respective district competition to claim both championships in 4A-1 action at Gravette last week. The boys outscored the competition in their three-game set by an astounding overall total 36-3 with the ladies duplicating the feat, whipping their three opponents by a combined 30-2 total.
The Lady 'Hawks ran their record to a sparkling 25-3 in their three-game conquest of the the district playoffs. They blasted Huntsville 18-1 in the opening round, crushed Prairie Grove 11-1 in semi-final action to avenge their lone loss in conference play, then shut out Gravette 1-0 on Friday to wrap up the title.
They will play in the first round of the 4A North Region tentatively against Ozark, the No. 4 seed of the 4A-4 district.
Pea Ridge, as of Thursday evening, April 27, was the fourth-ranked team in 4A Arkansas. Both the 4A-1 and the 4A-4 are tough conferences with Ozark being the No. 4 district seed but also holding the No. 11 spot in state rankings.
The boys blasted Benton County rival Gentry 18-1 in the first round to end the Pioneers' season. They then whipped home-standing Gravette in the semi-finals 8-0, setting the stage for a rematch of chief rival Shiloh, the top seed of the tourney. Like the past two seasons, the 'Hawks came out on top, winning their third straight district title with a 10-2 pasting of the private school boys. Shiloh was ranked third in the 4A state rankings before the finals with the 'Hawks holding down the sixth position. The boys will carry a No. 1 seed into the first round of the 4A North Regional, taking on the No. 4 seed Dardanelle Sand Lizards. Dardanelle is currently ranked 23rd in the state poll.
The winners of the first round at the North Region will land spots in the 4A State Baseball Tournament the following week in Lonoke. The semi-final and final games in the regional will determine seeding into the state tournament. Winners of the regional will be awarded byes into the state quarterfinals, a big advantage in conserving pitching arms for the playoffs. The state final games will be the following week at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
After the boys made the state finals in football and basketball, making it to the big show is no longer a novelty for Pea Ridge athletics teams but should both the girls and boys teams make it, now that would be history making.
MaxPreps/CBS state
4A Baseball Top 12
1. Ashdown 24-5
2. Westside 18-3
3. Shiloh* 20-6
4. Pottsville* 23-5
5. Nashville 24-7
6. Pea Ridge* 20-5
7. Central Ark 19-7
8. Booneville* 27-6
9. Heber Springs 20-6
10. Hamburg 21-5
11. Monticello 22-6
12. Lonoke 18-7
*North Region teams
MaxPreps/CBS state
4A Softball Top 12
1. Bauxite 27-1
2. Pottsville* 25-3
3. Gravette* 19-6
4. Pea Ridge* 23-3
5. Nashville 19-3
6. Monticello 21-4
7. Malvern 16-7
8. Brookland 14-7
9. Prairie Grove* 18-7
10. Trumann 17-9
11. Ozark* 16-7
12. Heber Springs 21-10
*North Region teams
Track and field district champions
Seven athletes wearing the red, black and white of Pea Ridge High School came home as district champions after winning their events at the 4A-1 District Track and Field Championships last week.
Shelby Dunlap (triple jump and 300 hurdles), Cassidy Mooneyham (pole vault), Cooper Elliot (100 dash, 4x100 relay), Kenny Dorsey (300 hurdles), Matthew Craig (4x100 relay), Ryan Higgins (4x100 relay) and Lance Nunley (4x100) all earned first place awards and a trip to Pocahontas to the 4A state meet set for May 2.
Second place finishers also qualified, which added several more 'Hawk athletes to the travel squad.
Trevor Henry took second in the 300 hurdles, Connor Escajeda captured second in the 400, Kiera Bryant was second in the 100 hurdles with Jamison Toms taking the second in the long jump. The 'Hawks boys 4x400 relay team of Trevor Henry, Adam Trammell, Matthew Craig and Connor Escajeda qualified. Cooper Elliott added the 200 meter run to his state events with a second place finish with Lance Nunley also gaining another event with the second place in the pole vault.
Both the girls and boys teams took runner-up trophies, the best combined finish of the track athletes in many, many years. The girls string of three straight conference titles was broken, but they still added to their considerable stock of track and field trophies won since Heather Wade assumed the mantle of head girls coach four years ago.
Dateline Houston
I am writing this column from the business center at a hotel near the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. I have been here for several days due to the 16-month illness of my daughter with cancer. She passed on to the next life last Friday morning with her family by her side.
She was the light of my life and a joy to my heart, and like myself, was a former track and field athlete. When I read of the 2017 state championships in track and field being held in Pocahontas, a lot memories flooded back to me. My daughter was a member of the Batesville Southside track squad when I was coaching there in the early 1900s. One of the first meets she ever ran as a scholastic athlete was in the 800 and 1600 runs as a seventh-grader on the Redskins track in Pocahontas. She won three events with her times of 2:40 and 5:45 in the 800, and 1600 events setting records back then.
If you have kids, love them, enjoy them, cherish them. You never know when they might be taken away.
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Editor's note: John McGee, an award-winning columnist, sports writer and art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, writes a regular sports column for The Times. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports on 05/03/2017