Baseball Blackhawks pound Gentry 18/4

— John King’s baseball ’Hawks pounded the Gentry Pioneers by an 18-4 count last Thursday on opening day of the 2012 4A season.

The game was a non-league contest but it gave folks a chance to see the ’Hawks’ offensive power as they scored early and often. Starting hurler Colby Schooley did a good job on the mound, keeping the ball down which forced the visitors to hit a lot of ground balls. The bulk of the Pioneer scoring came in the second inning, when a series of infield throwing errors aided the Pioneers in scoring three of their four runs. The Blackhawks got the three runs right back in the bottom of the second, then outscored Gentry 10-1 the rest of the way.

In the early going, Prairie Grove has gotten a lot of action going as they sport a 4-0 record. The Tigers started their season Feb. 27 by whipping Siloam Springs 12-1 then beating Huntsville 16-2 before crunching Elkins 15-5. Their latest victory was an easy 16-6 win over Valley Springs. Prairie Grove has had the unique experience of playing schools in three classifications, none of them in their own 4A division.

Farmington is close to keeping up with their neighbor as they have an undefeated 3-0 mark to their credit. Their wins came over Dover (5-2), Pottsville (16-2) and Huntsville (6-1). Ozark has won two of three this season beating Subiaco (16-8) and Dover (11-1).

Berryville has played once, losing to Yellville by an 8-4 count. Shiloh and Gravette had not played prior to this week although Gravette was playing Monday and were losing to 7A power Bentonville when Icame across the game on the radio.

The ’Hawks played Greenland Monday but no information was available before this was posted for today’s issue.

4A-1 boys’ teams eliminated in state first round

The two teams representing the 4A-1 boys district were eliminated in the first round of the state tournament.

Gravette was handled by Dollarway by a 67-53 count, but Berryville went down a lot harder, not losing until the second overtime as they lost a 60-58 thriller to McGehee. McGehee was eliminated in the next round but only by a 58-54 count to Mariana. Mariana then faced defending state champion Clarksville and they were pounded by a 69-48 count. I read where the Panthers led by 30 early on.

Clarksville will now head for the finals matchup with the Democrat-Gazette’s No. 1-ranked team in Pulaski Academy. CBS-Maxpreps has the Panthers ranked No. 1, and the game will probably not be a contest as Clarksville has too much speed and quickness for any team south of a 7A ranking.

State tourney sets 4A-1 girls district on its head

All year long a 4A-1 team hasbeen ranked the No. 1 team in the state and come the finals of the 4A State Tournament, a 4A-1 team will be playing for the top prize.

However, the team that has been ranked all season as the No. 1 team in the state won’t be the team in the championship final.

The Farmington Cardinals, the team that finished second to the Prairie Grove Tigers all season long, survived its bracket to make the finals when the Tigers from Prairie Grove were bounced out in the quarterfinals. The heretofore one loss Tigers suffered a 68-60 loss to Pulaski Academy, a team that that would be upset by Farmington in semi-final action 49-46.

The Cardinals will take on the Star City five in the state finals this weekend.

With Shiloh, Prairie Grove and Farmington each taking turns, the 4A-1 has shown the rest of the 4A classification where the strength of girls basketball lay.

’Hawk track team at record numbers

The boys and girls track teams will look to be at record strength this season if anyone tooling by the practice fields at the high school might notice. With a more organized coaching staff splitting up coaching duties, more kids have come out than has been thecase in the past. With the new indoor practice facility, workouts will be more consistent than were possible with Mother Nature sometimes dictating when athletes could or couldn’t practice.

Unscored practice meets were scheduled this week in Gentry with the first of championship invitationals slated for later in March.

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Editor’s note: John McGee is the art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The Times. He can be contacted through The Times at prtnews@ nwaonline.com.

News, Pages 7 on 03/07/2012