Out of harm’s way
FORT SMITH 4, RUSSELLVILLE 2
SHERIDAN — Fort Smith didn’t have to be perfect in Tuesday night’s rematch with Russellville. The Sportsman just had to be good enough when they needed.
Pitcher Jett Carver tossed five effective innings, while Dakota Peters and Grant Shankle led a balanced attack at the plate as Fort Smith held on for a 4-2 victory to win the AAA American Legion state championship at Oliver Williams Field.
“We did just enough, and that’s all we needed,” Fort Smith Coach Trey Prieur said. “We got 11 hits and only four runs, yet we did what we had to do. Russellville kept putting pressure on us, but we were fortunate to make a couple of plays and get out of some innings that could’ve been big for them.
“This is huge for us, though. I’m just so proud of our kids for sticking with it all the way through. I can’t say enough about them.”
Peters and Shankle had two hits each for Fort Smith, which lost to Russellville 6-5 in nine innings the day before. The Pirates also torched Sheridan’s pitching for 14 hits in a 17-1 victory in an elimination game earlier in the day, but Carver was able to keep Russellville’s bats in check, for the most part.
The left-hander, who was named the tournament’s most outstanding pitcher, allowed
4 hits and struck out 4 in 5 innings for Fort Smith. Caleb Robberson picked up the save.
Jordan Metcalf had two hits to lead the Pirates.
Things, however, started off shaky for Sportsman.
Russellville had runners on second and third with one out in the first inning after a Carver wild pitch. Prieur went out to chat with his starter, who then responded by getting Kalel Tramel to pop out before striking out Eli Thomas, to avoid any damage.
“You know, Jett didn’t have a great start to the tournament,” Prieur said, referring to Carver’s up-and-down outing against Little Rock in the opener Thursday. “We knew we could come back with him [Tuesday]. He grinded and grinded and grinded for us. He came out and did his job.”
Sportsman did cash in on its opportunity in the bottom half of the first. Matt Schilling opened the inning with a base hit and later scored from third on a shot to center field from Peters to give Fort Smith a 1-0 lead.
The Pirates got that run back in the top of the second when Brandon Bunton sent a Carver pitch high over the left-field wall to tie the game at 1-1. Still, the hard-throwing hurler held his own afterwards, and so did his teammates.
A sacrifice fly from Peters allowed Breck Burris to score and put the Sportsman up 2-1 in the third. Fort Smith padded its lead in the next inning on an RBI single from Shankle until Russellville inched closer in the fifth.
The Pirates pushed across a run on Tramel’s run-scoring single to slice its deficit in half, but Sportsman again responded in the bottom of the fifth.
Tanner Callahan’s bouncer between first and second base enabled Kent Carlisle to sprint home and push Fort
Smith’s margin back to two to set the final margin.
The Pirates got their first two runners on in the top of the seventh but Robberson, who took over for Carver in the sixth, got out of the jam and close the door.
“I’ve been running this program for 10 years now, and this is our second time to make it to the final,” Prieur explained. “This is my first time to win it. After the loss [Monday], I could tell they were disappointed, but they were still ready to play. Before the game, you could tell they were just ready to go.
“So this is big for our city and our region. Bringing a championship back to that area is going to be special.”