These Hackett Lady Hornets are the stylin’, profilin’, bat-wielding, ball hittin’, wheelin’, dealin’, diamond stealin’ softball elite. They have spent the entire ball season ruling the field so it should come as no surprise that the Lady Hornets ruled District. Facing Lavaca in the championship round, Hackett shot down the Lady Golden Arrows 15-5, taking the queen bee title of Champions.
Autum Neal led her team with three runs, three hits, three runners batted in, and three steals. Audrie Chaney was half of the Hackett pitching duo that saw the mound. She threw 47 pitches to 15 batters striking out 3. Chaney also earned one run and two putouts. The other half was Kayla Richardson who flung 56 pitches to 12 batters striking out 4. Kayla also obtained one hit, one RBI, one steal, and two putouts.
Madeline Freeman netted one run, one hit, three RBI, and three assists. Jamye Durham scored two runs, one RBI, one assist, and four putouts. Madi Taylor secured two runs, one hit, and one PO. Sarah White grabbed three runs, two hits, and seven PO’s. Emma Infalt made one run, one RBI, one steal, and one PO. And Shayla Foster snagged two runs, three hits, three RBI, one steal, one PO, and two assists.
With Districts, the Lady Hornets stand at 21-5 in total season play. As it stands, Hackett will play in Regionals on Thursday, May 2 at 10 a.m. The Lady Hornets will take on the Decatur Lady Bulldogs at the Harrison Parks and Recreation.
Talk about a busy week. The Mansfield Lady Tigers started their District play on Wednesday, April 24 and ended it four games later on Saturday, April 27. Mansfield earned their bid to the championship game when they slaughtered the Charleston Lady Tigers 13-5 in the semi-finals round on Friday. The girls took Runner-Up in District when they fell 10-0 to the Lady Elks in the final round.
“I am super proud of our team. I love the way that they keep pushing through and earning results while trusting the process,” says Coach Kent Elmore. The Lady Tigers start the week with a total play record of 14-14. After completely dominating at District, Mansfield gained their spot at Regionals as the #2 seed. The Lady Tigers will play the Mountain View Lady Yellowjackets on Thursday, May 2 at 12:30 p.m for the State bid. Regionals will be played in West Fork.
The Waldron Bulldogs have ended their season with a 4-6 conference play record. After falling 8-2 to the Lincoln Wolves in the second round of Districts, the Bulldogs will also close up with a 4-13 total play record. Waldron is coached by Mark Brigance and Garett Lazenby. Coach Brigance had this to say about the year, “The season didn’t go exactly as we wanted it to as far as wins-loses. The players grew all season with the underclassmen in the line-up getting better with each game.”
Junior Seth Hunt led the team in batting at .400 and an OBA of .525. Seth also earned 695 pitches with 54 strikes. Junior Ruben Valdez settled in at second base with 19 putouts, 5 assists, and had a .227 on base percentage. “Ruben was very good at advancing runners.” Lone senior Tyler Owens led the team in pitching with 801 pitches and 82 strikes in 37 innings.
“Sophomores Braden Williams and Caden Fuller really helped the team at the plate and pitching several innings.” Williams made a total of 21 hits, 10 runs, and 10 RBI. While Fuller secured a total of 12 steals, 14 hits and had an ERA of 4.9. “Bryson Bailey and Clayton Montgomery are two more sophomores that played in the outfield all year and helped at pitcher.” Bailey totaled 43 pitches to 15 batters and 10 putouts. Montgomery has a .846 fielding percentage and a total of 78 pitches with 4 strikes.
Sophomore Drake Carnley brought in 13 hits, 6 RBI, 9 runs, and 26 putouts for the season. “Freshman Blake Owens played first base all year and did a great job improving defensively each time.” Owens has a fielding percentage of .924 with 12 putouts and 61 assists. “I really feel the future looks bright for the Bulldogs,” added Coach Brigance.
Both the Golden Arrow baseball team and the Lady Arrow softball teams entered the 2A-4 District Tournament as a three seed. They both performed well advancing to their championship game. However, both teams came up just short of capturing the title. The girls lost to the Hackett Lady Hornets in a re-match in which the Lady Arrows won the previous meeting. For the boy, this was a rubber match. The boys team split with Hector in the two meetings earlier in the season. Saturday’s games did not go the way that the Arrows had planned and there was obvious disappointment. The Arrows will have to have a short memory though as Monday starts preparations to play for a Regional title and a State bid.
Both Arrow coaches have expressed pride in their teams and the manner in which they competed. Coach Headley had this to say about this past weekend and the upcoming regional tournament, “I am very proud of the way our guys competed in the district tourney. They really battled and showed a lot of perseverance and mental toughness. I’m looking forward to getting a couple of practices in before we go to Harrison to take on Cotter in the first round of regionals”. The Golden Arrows will be the two seed in regionals and will take on the Cotter Warriors at 5:30 in Harrison Arkansas on Thursday May 2nd 2019.
2A-West Baseball Bracket2A-West Softball Bracket
Coach Vire, also proud of his team, feels that they will be able to compete at a high level. He also, is hoping to see Hackett again for a rubber match. He said, “First, I do want to congratulate Hackett on the season they are having and on winning the championship last night, they deserved it but hopefully we can meet up again on Saturday and see who can break the tie. Getting the two seed is good and sets us up pretty well for this week. If we come out and put the ball in play, like we did during the District Tournament, I feel good about this week. We are going to have to do a better job of making the routine plays and backing up our pitcher. When you get to this time of year you can’t give teams extra batters by not making the routine plays, that will always come back to bite you as we saw last night. We will get to work this week and be good to go Thursday. Our goal is to Qualify for State and make a run for a State Championship. This week should be a fun and exciting week to be an Arrow!” The Lady Arrows will also play in Harrison at 5:30 on Thursday. They will meet up with Yellville-Summit.
On Saturday evening, April 27, the Mansfield United Methodist Church in partnership with the Mansfield First Baptist Church, hosted their annual banquet to honor local emergency responders.
UMC Pastor Richard Rogers said “for the past five or six years we have been able to honor and thank our public servants.”
Approximately 25 members of the police and fire department attended with their families. They were treated to a buffet style meal, with drinks and desserts.
Following the meal, Pastor Rogers presented the Roger Ball Awards. The members of both the police and fire department vote on which of their peers should receive that annual award.
This year’s award for the police department went to officer Stacy Wieburg. Retired Police Chief Boyd Farmer was also honored with a plaque.
The award for the fire department went to Fire Chief Stephen Haysmer. Retired Assistant Fire Chief Rick Thomas was also honored with a plaque.
The ladies from both churches worked tirelessly to ensure the event was a success. A special thanks to MFBC Pastor Phillip Slaughter and to all who assisted.
Officer Stacy Wieburg receives the Roger Ball Award.Retired Mansfield Police Chief Boyd Farmer honored.Fire Chief Stephen Haysmer receives Roger Ball Award.Retired Assistant Fire Chief Rick Thomas honored.The ladies of the Mansfield UMC and the FBC worked to serve those who serve the community.
Lavaca Lady Arrows and the Danville Lady Little Johns meet for the 3rd time this year. They had split the first two meetings. Last nights rubber match was for a chance to advance to the 2A-4 Championship game. This time Lavaca took the early lead scoring in the first two innings and never looking back. The Lady Arrows went on to win by a score of 7-2. Lavaca fired up the offense in the first inning when Jessica Flanagan doubled driving in Brianna Winchester. Flanagan would also score on a RBI ground ball from Kinzee Jo Brown. BethAnn May scored another in the 2nd inning on a Brianna Winchester RBI double to center field. The Arrows added 2 more on the 5th and 6th innings to put the game away. In all, Lavaca totaled 11 hits. Brianna Winchester, May, and Morgan Taylor each had multiple hits for the Lady Arrows. Winchester led Lavaca with three hits in five at bats.
BethAnn May again was solid on the mound and earned the win. She went seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits and striking out ten. Allie Bottoms took the loss for Danville. She allowed nine hits and seven runs over five and a third innings, striking out five and walking one.
Both teams will advance next week to the State 2A Regional Tournament. The Lady Arrows, will play for the District championship at 12 noon today against Hackett. This promises to be a great game. Lavaca won the first meeting with Hackett by a narrow margin of 3-2. Look for this to be a pitching battle with two stellar hurlers in the circle. It very well come down to who blinks first.
The 2A-4 district semifinals were everything you would expect them to be for the Lavaca vs Danville game. It was a pitchers duel extraordinaire. Jimmy Hall took the mound for the Arrows to face off against Dalton Reagan for the Little Johns. Hall surrendered one run on two hits over six and two-thirds innings, striking out 11. For Danville, Reagan lasted seven and two-thirds innings, allowing three hits and one run while striking out 15 and walking zero.
Lavaca took the early 1-0 lead when Jayger Wagner scored on a passed ball in the top of the fourth. The lead, however, was short lived. Danville evened things up at one in the bottom of the fourth inning. Lavaca stole the lead late for the final time in the top of the ninth when Kaw-Liga Brewer singled on a 2-2 count, scoring one Jimmy Hall. Offensively, Jayger Wagner led the Arrows going 2-for-4 at the plate.
The pitching was strong on both sides. The Golden Arrows pitchers struck out 13, while Danville pitchers sat down 17. Colby Clunn was credited with the victory for Lavaca. He pitched two and a third innings, out of the bull pin, allowing no hits and zero runs while striking out two. Hale took the loss for Danville. He went one and one-third innings, allowing one run on one hit, striking out two and walking one. Behind the great pitching, the Arrow’s defense played very well. Catcher Colby Clunn threw out 3 would be base runners attempting to steal; one at 2nd base and twice at 3rd.
Both teams played their hearts out and look forward to making a strong run at the State Regional Tournament in Harrison next week. The Golden Arrows however, can’t focus on that just yet. They will take the field in Hackett one more time tomorrow at 12 noon to battle the Hector Wildcats for the 2A-4 District Championship. The two teams split the first two meetings this year and this promises to be another great matchup.
The semi-final round of Districts was short, sweet, and to the point, as the Hackett Lady Hornets absolutely crushed the Hector Lady Wildcats. In just four innings the Lady Hornets put up an astonishing 16 points on the board to Hectors 1, winning the game.
#21 Sarah White
Hackett has now upgraded to 20-5 on the season and come tomorrow the girls are hoping to add another win to their record. With one level left to face in District, the Lady Hornets are looking to face either Danville or Lavaca in the championship round in Hackett.
#10 Madeline Freeman
Autum Neal scored two hits, two runs, two runners batted in, one steal, and one putout. Audrie Chaney totaled two runs, one hit, one RBI, one steal, and four putouts. Madeline Freeman secured three runs, two hits, and one assist. Jamye Durham netted one run, one hit, and one RBI.
#2 Audrie Chaney
Madi Taylor snagged one run, one hit, two RBI, and two putouts. Sarah White obtained one run, one hit, one RBI, one steal, one assist, and five putouts. Shayla Foster grabbed two runs, two hits, one steal, and one RBI. And definitely on top of her game was Kayla Richardson who dominated with four runs, four hits, two RBI, three steals, one home run, and one assist. Also pitching she threw out 58 pitches to 17 batters striking out 6.
#1 Autum Neal
It was a great night to say the least for the Lady Hornets. The girls are ready to bring home the gold in tomorrows game and prove the naysayers wrong. Yeah, they’re a small team from a small town. But these are the Bad News Hornets for any team that steps up to the plate to face them.
Comparatively speaking, the results of
the 2019 Mansfield track season fell below it’s usual high standards. For
exactly two decades, the Tigers have enjoyed large helpings of district and
state success. This year, a modest dip in performance along with an influx of
larger sized schools into the conference put Mansfield in unfamiliar territory.
Despite the challenges, Mansfield
managed to advance four athletes into the April 30th state championships in
Green Forest. The small band of Tiger track and field stars found their way to
that next round through all-district marks achieved at the 3A Region 1 West
conference meet held at Mansfield on April 22.
Going on to compete at the class 3A
state finals from Mansfield will be Sadie Roberts, Bri Sanderson, Makayla
Strutton, and Sara Willadsen.
Roberts, just a freshman, claimed her
ticket by clearing 4’ 11” in the high jump for second place in the conference
championship. The young vertical leaper actually tied Jaden Kirkendoll, the
district winner out of Waldron, with the same height. However, a series of
early misses by Roberts pushed her into the lower overall placement.
Bri Sanderson, a sophomore thrower off
the men’s team, made it to the state stage because of his 109’ 7” discus toss.
The mark placed Sanderson into second place in the conference standings and
advanced him to the Green Forest meet.
Strutton, a sophomore off the Lady Tiger
roster, found her way to the state finals by the narrowest of margins.
With identical 100m hurdle times
recorded at 18.30 seconds, Strutton and Joyce Ferguson of Waldron basically
tied for second place. Another move of the computer mouse running the video
review displayed the pair were separated by a thousandth of a second.
Strutton’s slight edge sent her to the
state meet. Ferguson’s one thousandths of a second too much time left her home
with a third place decision.
Willadsen, the only senior off the Tiger
stat sheet to advance, did so with a personal best 13.81 second run in the 100m
dash.
“Sara has been our hardest working
player all season,” said long time Mansfield coach John Mackey. “How
appropriate that she had to do it the hard way by winning the next to the last
heat. All the faster runners were in the third heat. Sara had to post a fast
time then play the waiting game.”
The fully automated timer perched above
the finish line at Tiger Stadium sandwiched Willadsen’s time between 13.79 ran
by winner Chloe Morrow of Cedarville and 13.87 ran by third place recipient
Katie McBroom also of Cedarville.
Overall, Mansfield’s girls finished
fourth in the team standings. Waldron won. West Fork was runner-up, and
Cedarville came in third.
To Mansfield’s detriment, a
reclassification by the Arkansas Activities Association sent the conference’s
top two finishers into the Tiger’s league this 2019 season. Both those
institutions competed in class 4A last season. Moreover, two more towns that
competed as class 4A schools a year ago entered the district to make exactly
half the conference former big school foes.
The Tiger men fell all the way to
seventh in the conference standings. Waldron, Elkins, and West Fork, all former
big schools, took the top three places.
Mansfield’s men endured a rough end to a
promising start of the season. Injury to key starters and normal attrition
depleted the Tiger roster. The group put up a strong fight despite only having
a dozen disciples left to man the shores.
Renden Emery scored the most for the men
through two jumps and both hurdle races. Jacob Brown threw his way to a third
place discus mark. Ethan Chapman, Mikeal Harrison, Victor Steffen, and Artem
Zirka placed through the distance events.
Randall Claude, Dru Buckner, and Logan
Yoss covered the relays. Zayne Dugan and Shawn Brown added to the throws
campaign.
The Lady Tigers had Willadsen and
Strutton serve as their top two scorers. Large production also came from the
team’s top thrower Brooke Wright.
Delilah McKusker, Shelby Cole, and
Lennon Woods helped in the relays and hurdles.
Faith Rainwater, Hope Rainwater, and
McKenzie Griffin scored in the distance events. Alyssa Berry, Cole, Roberts,
and Willadsen all pointed in the pole vault.
Athletes that finished as a top two
advancer in any event at the conference track meet earned All-District honors.
Roberts, Sanderson, Strutton, and Willadsen fit that bill.
Third place medalists moved into
honorable mention status. Wright and Jacob Brown donned those capes.
Makayla StruttonSadie RobertsBri SandersonLogan Yoss, Renden Emery, Dru Buckner, and Victor Steffen
