Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Inclement weather pushes regional play back for majority
Weather required Joe T. Robinson to wait a few extra days to begin its state championship quest, but that’s minuscule to the Senators.
The bigger picture is much more important.
Robinson ( 19-11) has its eyes set squarely on winning a state title and will take the first step in that direction Saturday when it plays Pocahontas (10-13) in the opening round of the 4A East Regional at Brookland High School. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. — a full 48 hours after the two were originally supposed to play until storms intervened.
Severe weather, complete with heavy downpours and strong winds, forced all but one softball and baseball regional to be postponed by at least one day. In Robinson’s case, its region was pushed back two days. The only event that was able to start Thursday was the 1A Region 2 tournament in Marked Tree, and even that was stopped because of rain after getting one game in for both sports. Most of the regionals now will play the semifinals, third-place game and championship game Saturday, but there are some, like the 4A East Regional, that opted to hold consolation and title matchups until Monday.
For the Senators, their focus hasn’t waned despite the changes.
“We were going to go up Thursday and stay [tonight] too,” said Robinson Coach Isaac Dulaney, whose team won the 4A-5 conference title for the third year in a row. “It just backs things up, but we know the task at hand.”
That chore revolves simply around winning. A victory for Robinson locks up a state tournament berth and guarantees it a chance to make good on a championship goal that was set before the season started.
There is a bit of familiarity with the Senators opening opponent, too. Robinson beat Pocahontas 2-0 in the thirdplace game at regionals a year ago. The Redskins are coming off a 15-1 loss to Nettleton in their previous game April 28 and have lost six of their past eight contests overall. But that means little to Dulaney, especially in a do or die scenario.
“I know they’ve got a really good arm in the Jackson Privett kid,” he explained. “He’s a 6-foot kid, 200 pounds or so that’s been clocked anywhere from 82 to 89 miles per hour. His breaking ball is good, and he’s got a plus change-up. So we know we’ll have our work cut out for us.
“When you get into this time of the year, you’re going to have to beat arms.”
Privett, a right-hander, has had multiple outings with at least 10 strikeouts. The sophomore is also dangerous at the plate, as evidenced by him clubbing two home runs and nearly hitting for the cycle in a win against Jonesboro Westside earlier in the season.
Robinson and Pocahontas were knocked out in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A state tournament in 2021, so both will be trying to get back to that spot. Each team also knows that a loss puts an end to their year.
“Our mindset has kind of been the same all season,” Dulaney said. “We’ve just had really good cohesion as a team. We’ve had some really good leadership, too. Up until this point, every time that we’ve had to go and get a win, the guys have done it.
“They figured out how to get one from Lonoke, and they figured out how to take two from Pulaski Academy. We didn’t play our best baseball but came from behind to win both games against Stuttgart to secure the one seed. When they get put to the test, they answer.”