Local schools look to qualify for state tournament

The regional softball tournaments get under way today with Smackover, Junction City and Parkers Chapel all scheduled to compete.

The Lady Bucks earned a No. 1 seed and will face Cossatot River today at 10 a.m. in the 3A 4 Regional in Horatio.

The Lady Dragons will be a No. 4 seed in the tournament and will play Genoa Central today at 12:30 p.m.

In the 2A South Region at Poyen, the No. 2 seeded Lady Trojans will meet third-seeded Foreman today at 12:30 p.m. PC brings a 14-8 record into the game while the Lady Gators enter the regional with a 14-17 mark.

“Their record doesn’t indicate how good they are,” said PC coach Elliot Jacobs. “Foreman is a team that’s had a lot of success at the 2A state level in softball - multiple state championships.

“When you get a program like that, it really doesn’t matter what kind of a year they had, those kids are used to winning. That always concerns you as a coach, playing that type of program with the success they’ve had over the years.”

Led by former Razorback Kimmy Beasley, Foreman won seven state championships from 2006-2014.

Jacobs said the Lady Gators don’t have that same kind of dominant pitcher any more.

“I’m not real sure that they have the best pitching in the world. But, they can swing it,” he said.

“We have to do a real good job of our pitchers hitting their spots and playing good defense behind them. We feel we can score on them. It’s just a matter of if our pitching and defense shows up.”

Smackover, which has won 16 of its last 17 games, brings a 24-6 record into its matchup with Cossatot River (6-17). The Lady Bucks won the 3A 8 District Tournament on Saturday.

Junction City (11-11) fell to McGehee 10-8 last week in the semifinals of the district tournament. Genoa Central (16-13) had won four in a row before losing to Horatio in the 3A-7 district tournament and at Taylor (4-0) on Tuesday.