Ventura’s death tough to stomach
Shortly after breakfast on Sunday morning, I saw the news that 25-year-old Kansas City Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura — as promising a talent as you’ll see — was killed in an automobile accident earlier that morning in the Dominican Republic.
Ventura — some of you will recall — came through the Royals minor league organization, including a stop with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.
A Kansas City Star headline said Ventura — who had a fastball that touched 100 mph — was “A baseball comet, gone far too soon” and I couldn’t agree more. Ventura’s fastball blazed like a comet and there’s no doubt the Royals would not have made two straight World Series — losing in seven games in 2014 and winning in five games in 2015 — without him.
It’s tragic when any sports figure dies, but here lately Major League Baseball has lost its share of promising young talent. I think about Miami Marlins pitcher Alex Fernandez, who died in a boating accident at the end of September, just as the season was winding down.
Fernandez’s death was awful as well, but for me Ventura’s hits home even more, mostly because it’s Kansas City and his ties to the Naturals.
It’s homecoming week at Siloam Springs High School and basketball fans in the area will get a chance to see one of Northwest Arkansas’ most dynamic scorers on Friday when the Panthers host Farmington.
Farmington senior guard Matt Wilson will take his shot at solving Panther Activity Center, which can sometimes prove to be a tough arena to shoot in for opponents who have never been there before.
Wilson, you’ll recall, scored 49 points in Farmington’s 71-48 victory over Siloam Springs on Jan. 3 at Cardinal Arena in Farmington. At the time, that was a single-game school record for Farmington, and since then Wilson has gone on to break the mark when he scored 50 on Clarksville just a few days later.
I haven’t seen Wilson yet, but you’d better believe Siloam Springs will have a close eye on him this time around.
At 4-16 heading into Tuesday night’s nonconference game against Providence Academy, it’s been a long, tough season for the Siloam Springs girls basketball team. The Lady Panthers are 0-6 in 5A/6A District 1 play, with five of the six losses coming by less than 10 points.
After last Friday’s loss to Greenwood, head coach Tim Rippy said this team is close to turning the corner, and he might be right. From what I’ve seen in Class 6A, there’s no team that the Lady Panthers can’t play with when it comes playoff time. There’s plenty of season left and a lot of time for the Lady Panthers to turn this thing around.
It all starts with one game, and the Lady Panthers will take their shot at Farmington on Friday night in the nightcap of a doubleheader.
— Graham Thomas is the managing editor for the HERALDLEADER. He can be reached at gthomas@nwadg.com. The opinions expressed are those of the author.