Gentry hosts district baseball, softball tourneys
GENTRY — A five-run fifth inning was more than enough cushion for Prairie Grove starter Logan Gragg to finish off Gravette during a 10-3 victory in the 4A-1 Conference Tournament on Thursday.
The victory secures the Tigers’ spot in the 4A North Regional, which they’re hosting this week.
“We do feel better punching our ticket [to regionals] today,” said Prairie Grove first-year coach Chris Mileham. “It takes a little [pressure] off, but there’s a lot of work left to do.”
That sets up a rematch against top-seeded Shiloh Christian. The Tigers were the only 4A-1 team to defeat the Saints when Gragg struck out 11 during a 2-1 win on April 4.
Gragg, who entered the tournament leading the league with 80 strikeouts in 48 innings, had struck out just four Lions through the first five innings.
“We knew we were going to face Gragg and rose to the challenge, in my opinion,” said Gravette coach Randall Hunt. “We had a great approach, but tip my cap to him, he’s an outstanding pitcher with a very bright future ahead of him.”
The Connors State signee struck out five while retiring the final six batters in order. He allowed just one earned run on five hits and finished with 9 strikeouts by throwing first-pitch strikes to 21 of the 29 batters he faced. Gragg said it “feels great” to make it to regionals and said he was extra fired up after his team’s five-run fifth inning.
“The momentum had me going,” Gragg said. “Our defense was playing well behind me and our dugout was impressive — It was a great time.”
Gravette had trimmed the Tigers’ lead to 5-3 with two runs in the top of the fifth.
“When Gravette threw up that two spot, it looked like they were going to kind of crawl back into it,” Mileham said. “And we responded with five runs in the bottom [of the inning]. That right there, in my mind, absolutely contributed to the tough early schedule that we put them through. And I think the best is yet to come.”
Prairie Grove’s offense exploded for 12 hits and were led by Gavin Heltemes (3 for 3 with three RBIs) and Clay Fidler (2 for 4 with three RBIs).
In Thursday’s late game, Huntsville beat Gentry, 9-8, in 11 innings as both teams battled for the final berth in next week’s regional tournament.
Gravette 3, Lincoln 2
Kilby Roberts’ RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning proved to be the game winner after Lincoln had evened the score at 2-2, thanks to a pair of Lions’ errors and an RBI single by Tristan Young in the top of the inning.
Jace Russ hit an RBI triple and Chase Owens picked up an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the second inning off Wolves’ starter Garrett Blankenship, who allowed four hits.
Lions’ freshman righthander Hunter Cole allowed no earned runs on three hits in 6 2/3 innings while striking out 5 to record the win. Trey Nunnally got a pop-up for the final out to pick up the save.
Gentry 5, Berryville 1
Smartt, a freshman righthander, pitched five shutout innings and helped his own cause by scoring two runs.
The Pioneers led 4-0 after two innings with Wyatt Clark’s two-run single highlighting a three-run first inning. Taylor drove in Smartt on RBI double in the fourth inning to account for the rest of Gentry’s offense.
The Bobcats plated their lone run when Seth Hemlinger singled, advanced to second on an error, to third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth inning.
Softball Prairie Grove 14, Gravette 6
After the fifth-seeded Lady Lions evened the score at 5-all in the fifth inning, the fifth-seeded Lady Tigers answered with seven runs in the sixth inning to take a commanding 12-5 lead.
With the win, Prairie Grove locks up a spot in next week’s 4A North Regional on its home turf and advanced to play top-seeded Berryville.
Lincoln 6, Gentry 0
Senior right-hander Ashtyn Rothrock struck out 10 and scattered eight hits while tossing a complete-game shutout.
The third-seeded Lady Wolves earned a trip to this week’s regionals and beat second-seeded Pea Ridge in conference finals on Monday.
Gentry 7, Huntsville 0
Sophomore Alyssa Kelton tossed a four-hit shutout and got all the offensive help she needed when Harley Stanfield smashed a three-run homer in the fourth inning to help the Lady Pioneers advance.