Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
NLR completes comeback story
FAYETTEVILLE — North Little Rock baseball Coach Randy Sandefur praised his team’s strong work ethic and never-say-die mentality throughout the Class 6A state baseball tournament.
The Charging Wildcats showed off both again in the title game Monday, rallying from two late deficits to dethrone defending champion Springdale Har-Ber 5-4 in 10 innings at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Shortstop Deshaun Cordova blooped a 1-0 pitch into short right field to score John Henry Maloch from second to snap a 4-4 tie and give North Little Rock its third state title despite finishing with a 15-18 record.
“Well, I tell you I don’t know what I’m feeling right now,” said Sandefur, who took over as interim coach around spring break. “When we started this journey before spring break, we were going to be a lunch-pail mentality team. We were gonna give it everything we have.
“Our backs were against the wall the whole game. It’s been that way for a while now and our kids just respond. It’s just their make-up. I’m so proud of our guys.”
Luke Rice went 3 for 4 and drove in a run to lead North Little Rock’s 11-hit attack. But Cordova, who was named tournament MVP, came up with his only hit of the game at an opportune time.
Maloch singled to start the bottom of the 10th, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Charlie Warren. Har-Ber pitcher Landon McAllister got Alex Cauley to pop out before Cordova came through.
The senior second baseman said he was just trying to make contact in that situation.
“I just wanted to get the barrel to the ball and just do what I can, see if I can get the ball to the outfield and get the ball down so we could get that run in,” Cordova said. “This team has gone through a lot of adversity, but I wouldn’t trade any of my teammates or what happened to us for anything because it taught us to overcome adversity.”
Har-Ber Coach Ron Bradley, who closed a 40-year coaching career in the finals, gave North Little Rock credit for never giving up and earning the victory in a game between two teams that both finished as No. 5 seeds in their respective conferences.
“You look at that game, there were a lot of emotional swings,” Bradley said. “Take your hats off to them, they got key hits when they had to have them. Man, they got on a roll, won some close games. Their coach did a great job bringing that team back together.
“Our kids played hard. We competed. We had a shot to win it, and we couldn’t hold the lead.”
Ninth-place hitter Sam Stephenson accounted for two of Har-Ber’s five hits. He went 2 for 2 with a double, a walk and a run scored.
The Charging Wildcats scored a run in the seventh to tie it 2-2, and two in the ninth for the 4-4 deadlock.
Har-Ber (25-8), which was making its third consecutive state finals appearance, trailed 1-0 until Blake Adams’ long solo home run.
Hunter Wood’s two-out RBI single gave Har-Ber a 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh, but North Little Rock responded with a run on Luke Rice’s two-out single.
The Wildcats looked to have momentum on their side when two runs scored on a wild pitch and throwing error for a 4-2 advantage in the ninth, but Bear Sparks drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice fly by Jelani Willis tied the game again for North Little Rock.