Woodlawn continues championship run

FAYETTEVILLE — The Woodlawn Bears maintained their dominance Friday in the Class 1A state baseball championship game at Baum Stadium.

Woodlawn jumped out to an early lead then held on for a 4-2 victory over Southside Bee Branch.

It was the third consecutive state championship for the Bears who have now won six titles in the past 11 seasons.

“A lot of people try to give me a lot of credit for this,” Woodlawn Coach Tommy Richardson said.

“I try to deflect that. First of all, it’s the Lord and these kids that come out here that do the work. We try to push them, and they are willing to work.”

Woodlawn (29-6) found success early, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Trey Scallion led off with a double, and he later scored on another double from Will Richardson. Nick Ward’s sacrifice fly made it 2-0.

“I’ve been here a lot of times, and the team that scores first usually wins,” Richardson said. “It slows you down when you don’t score first.

“You don’t have to play from behind. It speeds things up, so I was proud to get those two early.”

Woodlawn added to its lead in the third inning when Ward launched another sacrifice fly to make it 3-0 .

Will Richardson didn’t make it easy for the Hornets on the mound early. He pitched three perfect innings for Woodlawn to open the game and didn’t allow a hit through four.

Southside (29-8) battled back to cut the lead to 3-2 in the top of the sixth. The Hornets were able to load the bases with back-to-back singles and a walk from Griffin Smith, Eli Leonard and Brody Smith.

After a ground ball brought in a run, Riley Campbell hit an RBI double to trim the deficit to a run.

“It’s kind of been a trend this whole tournament getting behind early and not giving up,” Southside Coach Jeffery Liggin said.

“We scratched and clawed to get back into this. We just ran out of outs unfortunately.”

“Our pitching has been like this all year long,” Richardson said.

“We have a lot of options and a good staff. We had everybody ready. I’m proud of those guys.”

Woodlawn extended its lead out to 4-2 when Sam West stole home in the bottom of the sixth to get back one of the Hornets’ two scores in the top of the inning.

“It’s just an early break is what we call it,” Richardson said. “It was a insurance run that we needed. They did a good job on that. With those plays, you make a coach look real smart or real stupid.”

Southside had its season end making it all the way to the championship game after missing the tournament altogether a year ago.

“This is a great season for us,” Liggin said. “We had some great leadership in my seniors that led the way.

“We had some kids that didn’t give up.

“Coming back, we wanted to turn this around and be where we knew we could be.”

“A lot of people try to give me a lot of credit for this. I try to deflect that.” — Woodlawn Coach Tommy Richardson