HARRISON- The postseason is in full swing throughout Arkansas, and the Paris Eagles and Lady Eagles had successful runs in last week’s district tournament to both qualify for the Region 1 Tournament that is currently being held in Harrison.
Paris softball struggled this year to finish the conference regular season in fifth place. The Lady Eagles, playing as a number five seed in the district postseason tournament, entered the week having to win two games to qualify for the regionals.
Paris opened the tournament with the early game on day one of the tournament, soundly defeating the host school, Danville, by the score of 21-0. The win advanced Paris to the second round to face the Two Rivers Lady Gators in a rematch of a regular season game in which Two Rivers had defeated Paris.
But behind a gutty performance from pitcher Abby Nacol, the Lady Eagles defeated Two Rivers to earn a berth in this week’s regional. Paris advanced to the third round the next morning to play Hackett who many prognosticators have predicted to be the favorite to win this year’s 3A state title.
With the threat of rain later in the week, tournament officials decided to move up the softball tournament schedule so that the champion and remaining regional seeds would be determined by the end of the day on Wednesday. The change in game times meant that Paris, having completed its second-round game at approximately 5:30 p.m., would be back on the field the next morning for a 10 a.m. third round game against the seeded Lady Hornets who would be playing their first game.
Paris would be no match for Hackett and their all-state pitcher, Mackenzie Freeman. Freeman, a Tulsa University signee, was again impressive in her outing against Paris. Hackett would eventually go on to defeat Booneville to win the 3A-4 district tournament and is playing this week in the Harrison regional as the top seed from the 3A-4.
The semifinal loss for Paris sent them to the consolation game against Charleston who had lost their semifinal match with Booneville. It would be Paris’s fourth game in three days, and it was evident that fatigue and injuries affected Paris in their loss to Charleston. The Lady Tigers were impressive in their win, and are playing in this week’s regional as the number three seed from the conference.
Paris ended the district tournament week with a 2-2 record and qualified for the regionals as the conference’s number four seed. It was an impressive finish for a team that entered the tournament seeded fifth. Some teams may have quit to end a long and difficult season, but the Lady Eagles played hard all week and are being rewarded this week with a return trip to the regionals for the first time since 2022.
The Paris baseball Eagles finished the conference regular season in second place to the Booneville Bearcats. In doing so, Paris earned a bye to the semifinals and awaited their eventual opponent throughout the week of earlier played games in the district tournament.
That opponent turned out to be the Charleston Tigers. Paris had defeated Charleston earlier in the season, and the rematch in the semifinals would be an opportunity for both teams to advance to the district tournament championship game. By virtue of the Eagles’ second place finish, Paris entered the tournament already guaranteed a spot in the regionals as one of the top four teams in the conference. Wins in the district tournament would increase the Eagles’ seeding in the regionals that could prove to be very important in the team’s hopes of advancing to the state tournament from regional play.
But the Charleston Tigers, behind an impressive pitching performance from sophomore Carter Little, handily defeated Paris, sending the Eagles to the consolation game. Paris struggled on the mound, on defense, and at the plate in one of their more frustrating performances of the season.
The loss sent Charleston to the finals to face Booneville for the district tournament championship and a top seed in this week’s regional. Booneville would go on to defeat Charleston for the tournament championship and a number one seed from the conference in the regional tournament. Charleston is playing this week as the conference’s number two seed.
The Pzris loss sent the Eagles to the consolation game against the Hackett Hornets. Hackett, who had lost in the semifinals on a walk-off home run to Booneville in the bottom of the seventh, had previously defeated the Eagles in Paris during the regular season. So, fans wanted to see how Paris would react to the semifinal loss to Charleston. Another loss in the consolation game would have sent Paris to the regionals as a number four seed and a first-round date against a top seed in the regional tournament. The path back to state would have been much more difficult.
But, behind outstanding pitching by senior Dawson Neumeier, Paris bounced back big the next day, defeating Hackett by the score of 7-0. Neumeier did not give up a hit until very late in the game, narrowly missing a no-hitter against the Hornets.
The consolation game win sent the Eagles to this week’s regional tournament as a number three seed and will play a two-seed in the first round of this week’s tournament.
Both the Paris softball and baseball teams are looking to win their regional tournament opening games to qualify for next week’s state tournament. RNN Sports will be in Harrison this week to bring you all of the action. Watch for a regional tournament recap in next week’s RNN Logan County newspaper.
Good luck to all of the River Valley teams this week in the regional tournament!!
