The Charleston Lady Tigers defeated Paris on Wednesday to sweep the regular season series with the Lady Eagles and to move into third place in the 3A-4 conference race behind first place Hackett and second place Booneville. The 10-5 defeat left Paris in unfamiliar territory as of recent seasons with a 3-5 conference record in sixth place, just ahead of Cedarville and Cossatot River.
Charleston has been a bit of a surprise this season, but the Lady Tigers have shown grit and determination all season and are now set to make a run for a top-tiered finish in the conference along with a high seed in the district tournament. Charleston head softball coach, Ryan Meyers, has done a tremendous job with the Lady Tigers, making them competitive in the face of injuries and other issues. Meyers has his team positioned for a big run in the remaining weeks of the regular season.
For Paris, it has been a tough stretch of losses against the top teams in the 3A-4. Losses to front runner Hackett and second place Booneville, along with two losses to Charleston have left the Lady Eagles in a position they have not been used to being in over the past few seasons. Paris must quickly re-group and put the losses to Charleston behind them to focus on salvaging as many wins as possible to have a chance in this year’s post-season tournaments. The Lady Eagles have a lot of experience and talent on their roster, giving Paris the ability to get hot and make a run into post-season play. But to do so, the Lady Eagles will have to increase their run production and improve their defense to make it happen.
Paris will return home on Monday to play a non-conference game with the 4A Dardanelle Lady Sand Lizards. On Tuesday, Paris will be back on the road for a big match with the conference-leading Hackett Lady Hornets who soundly defeated Paris at home by the score of 11-0. Paris desperately needs to defeat Hackett and follow that win with another at Cedarville on April 15.
For Charleston, the Lady Tigers will be at home next Tuesday on April 12 to play the Cedarville Lady Pirates. And on April 15, Charleston will be at Hackett for a very important game with the Lady Hornets that could significantly impact conference seeding in the district tournament. In this writer’s observation of play to this point, Hackett is the best team in 3A-4, but Charleston is playing well and could challenge both Booneville and Hackett in the coming weeks.
So softball fans, the weather will gradually warm up, and so will the action on the softball fields as teams begin to play for titles and conference seedings! Stay with Resident News Network Sports for all of the excitement of high school softball!
