The 1st Annual Leopard Invitational Tournament being held in DeQueen is currently underway. The Mansfield Tigers and the Waldron Bulldogs are part of eight teams showing off their baseball skills in the three-day tournament. The Bulldogs competed in the first round on Thursday night against Horatio. “The game didn’t go in our favor with a 9-1 final score,” explained coach, Mark Brigance. “We had some help on offense in the first inning capitalizing on two walks and two hit batters. That plated Braden Williams for us off Patrick Poor’s hit by the pitch.”
“Jayden McConnell pitched 2 and 1/3 innings. He did everything we asked of him and didn’t walk anybody. Payton Brown didn’t allow a passed ball and Caden Fuller pitched the remaining 1 and 2/3 shortened ballgame. Due to tournaments rules, the game lasted 4 and 1/2 innings because of an eight-run rule sportsmanship. Horatio is a solid team and you have to give them credit for playing really good small ball.” The Bulldogs will play again on Friday night at 7:30 against Foreman.
The Tigers will start tournament play today at 3:30 against Lincoln. This season, Mansfield holds a young roster whose pitching is “already showing a lot of promise but we have got to get our bats going,” stated coach, Tim Cothran. The Tigers sit 0-1 after a loss to Mena but are putting in the work daily in preparation for the 2019-2020 season. After today’s game, the Tigers will go on to face either Broken Bow or Genoa Central. “We could play multiple games Saturday. If we lose the first two games we are done but as long as we are winning, we are playing up to the finals.”
