Baseball, softball teams go 2-0 for the week
Though a lot of games were washed out last week due to the extremely wet weather, the Diamond ’Hawks — both boys and girls — were still able to rack up a pair of victories.
The girls opened the week with an 11-6 win over the Lincoln and they followed that up with a 7-0 shut out of Elkins. The boys obliterated Green Forest 27-1 early in the week then handed Gravette a 12-4 setback later.
The boys had a big game scheduled with Shiloh at home Monday in a battle of conference unbeatens. Another league game is set for Thursday at Tiger Field in Prairie Grove.
The Lady ’Hawks traveled to Prairie Grove Monday then were to host West Fork Tuesday, weather permitting. A Friday league will be held with Berryville coming to town.
The final league games will be held over the next two and half weeks with the 4A-1 District Tournament coming up the last week of the month for both boys and girls.
In the state rankings, the boys and girls Top 10 teams saw nearly every team get jumbled in the order as compared to last week. The only exception is for girls softball where the 4A state’s seventh-ranked and eighth-ranked softball teams remained the same. Pea Ridge is ranked seventh with Gravette right behind in eighth.
In the overall regional rankings, it would appear the East Region has assumed the mantle of toughest region in the state in softball. The East has a 143 power rating with the North Region having a 102 rating, and the South an 80 rating.
In the three 4A baseball regions, the South has the highest ratings with a 117 score, but the North is only just a bit behind at 113. The East Region is back at 85.
Baseball outcomes are a bit more unpredictable due to the nature of the game. Pitching really affects the outcome of games, with several arms needed to conduct a season. That fact contrasts with football and basketball as teams start generally the same personnel from game to game.
Biking taking off in the Ridge
When I first arrived in Pea Ridge, the high school had was just gotten into 2A classification, and there weren’t just a whole lot of athletes available to participate in more programs than the standard football/ basketball/track/baseball schedule to which most small schools adhere.
Since that time in the late ’90s, the enrollment had steadily risen in Pea Ridge with more than double the number of students available to participate in any sporting programs the school might offer. More importantly, the percentage of students enrolled has also risen with lots more efforts being made to include more and more student athletes.
The spirit programs are bigger, volleyball was added, the football rosters are much, much bigger with the basketball program also including a lot more players. Track and field has seen sky rocketing numbers with successes in that sport continuing to mount.
The latest sport to be offered the students is bicycling and I was fortunate enough to attend an organizational meeting at the high school last week. Offered to junior and senior high students, the program is very responsive to serve student needs in whatever way desired or needed, and it is an activity that I would encourage anyone who isn’t involved athletically with the Blackhawk program to get involved.
Northwest Arkansas has kind of become the bicycling capitol of America with all the hundreds of trails and roads built for the biking crowd. Bike shops are popping up all over, and there are now bus loads of bike enthusiasts rolling into our area to spend a few days exploring the many and varied biking venues available. People are spending big bucks to just come to be a part of the biking scene in the place we live in.
I have signed on to be the bike photographer for the upcoming season which starts in July. Several Pea Ridge staff members have volunteered their time (which is considerable) to make the program successful by coaching and encouraging the growing number of students giving the newest sport a try.
I didn’t even know biking was even a high school sport anywhere until recent years. While different in lots of ways from the typical football/basketball/ track programs, there is one major similarity that runs through all the sports, including biking, that are conducted here on the ’Ridge. Participants receive both physical and mental benefits that can’t be gotten in other venues.
There is a health catastrophe looming on the horizon in our country because of the state of health of American youth. Poor diets (read junk food) and lack of exercise has brought about a situation unheard of in American history. For the first time since records of this type have been kept, the life expectancy for the emerging youth of our country is declining.
For years and years, people have been living longer than the generation that preceded it. Better healthcare, better diets and better living conditions have all played their parts. The gains, however, have been reversed.
There is now such a thing as Esports that kids are into, as in electronic sports. Video games, simulated sports, and the like have attracted growing numbers of our youth. The problem with this, is that only your fingers are getting any kind of exercise, with the rest of your body in a static position.
Bodies that don’t move tend to break down and wear out faster (read dying). We were not meant to be chair fixtures.
Any activity that raises someones heart rate for extended periods, and causes perspiration is a good thing, or rather a great thing.
Getting back to biking. The students in this program will be doing lots of heart rate raising and perspiration, and they will be doing it on their own level. There is no bench in biking, and everyone gets to count. I saw a lot of camaraderie last week among the biking enthusiasts and with my granddaughter deciding to get involved too, well hey, I’m there.
The ‘Ridge bikers have quite an interesting schedule ahead and I would urge anyone who has any kind of interest in biking or joining a fun group, to give high school ceramics teacher Anya Bruhin a call or message.
Biking is one sport that doesn’t have to end at graduation day. Most football, basketball and baseball players hang it up after their high school days are over. Bikers, however, have embarked on a lifetime sport. There is no better place or no safer place in these United States to pursue a sport like biking than in these Ozark hills in northwest Arkansas.
4A-3A-1 Softball Conference standings
1. Pea Ridge
2. Gravette
3. Lincoln
4. West Fork
5. Prairie Grove
6. Gentry
7. Greenland
8. Elkins
4A-1 Softball District rankings
1. Pea Ridge
2. Gravette
3. Berryville
4. Lincoln
5. Prairie Grove
6. Huntsville
7. Gentry 6-0 3-1 3-2 2-1 2-3 0-4 0-3 0-1 10-3 7-3 8-3 7-6 2-8 4-3 2-7