Archive - Sports Article
August 12th, 2011
BENTON â New softball coach Heidi Cox is anxious to get underway. Too bad for her, the season doesnât start until the Spring.
âI almost wish softball was a fall sport, so we could go ahead and get started,â Cox said Thursday night at the Benton High School Cafeteria during a meet and greet for all the parents, fans and players.
âI am excited about taking over,â Cox said.
August 10th
Heidi Cox, the new Benton softball coach, will be introduced to the public Thursday night at 8 p.m. in the Benton High School Cafeteria.
âI thought she has a proven background not only as a player at the collegiate level, but the 6A Level and the 6A South Conference,â Benton athletic director Steve Quinn said. âShe is a quality person with a good family and a good work ethic,â Quinn. âI felt like she will be a good asset to the community and school district.â
Cox is a graduated of Arkansas High School in Texarkana.
August 9th
You never hear a father tell his son âStrive for secondâ or âDo everything you can to finish second.â The same should be applied to Major League Baseball. But it seems every year once a team realizes it canât win a division, it aims for the wild card position.
Why wouldnât they? Winning the wild card is just as good as winning the division.
There is penalty or drawback of winning the wild card. If a team wins the wild card, they have just as good of a chance to win the World Series as a team that wins their division.
August 8th
In the first-ever all Saline County regional, the Benton 9-year-olds defeated Bryant in the Cal Ripken Southwest Regional with a score of 4-0 in the final.
Bentonâs Peyton Pallette took control of the game early and finished with a complete game one-hit shutout over Bryant, who reached the tournament finals after defeating Little Rock Junior Deputy 6-3.
âThey had their ace going. It was a great game,â Bryant coach Clint Hilson said.
âWe were really impressed with him and just couldnât hit him.
Bryantâs only hit came in the fifth inning with a hit up a middle by Trey McKim.
August 5th
The 9-year-old Cal Ripken Regional, that was originally played in Hattiesburg, Miss., was rained out July 27. Since the four remaining teams were from Arkansas, the finals were moved to Bentonâs Bernard Holland Park. The Benton 9s, coached by Shane Pigue, were the number one seed going into bracket play after 4-0 in pool play and was chosen to host the final two games.
âWe set a goal to do that, because not many teams have won regionals for Benton,â Pigue said. âTim Bennettâs team has won three-in-a-row but no other Benton team has won a regional before.
âIt is kind of crazy.â
August 4th
Several Benton and Saline County residents showed off their hunting skills for a television program, which aired all last week.
Randy West, of Benton, was contacted by Freddy King of Cherokee Sports last July and he wanted to know if he could film a duck hunting show.
âHe pretty much wanted to tell the story of how passionate the sport can be,â West said. âHe saw all my Facebook pictures of ducks and he came down and filmed us and interviewed me.â
The show also featured: Chad Taylor, Zach Esry, Brian Moore, Trevor West, Trey West, Tim Wacov, Chris Reynolds and Zach Davis.
August 2nd
By
Special to the Courier
The Bryant 14-Year-Old All Stars defeated Kenner, La., last yearâs regional champs, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Southwest Regional Tournament in Lake Jackson, Texas. Bryant faced Harrison, Ark., Monday night and lost 9-2, which means Bryant finishes the tournament in fourth place. The Harrison All-Stars were crowned the Arkansas State Champs earlier this year.
Bryant lost to Harrison in the first game of the series and rallied to defeated Oak Grove 8-4 (winning pitcher Jacob Ward) and Kenner, La. (winning pitcher Devin Dupree.)
July 29th
With August just around the corner, that means only one thing â football season is a little more than a month away. With the first game scheduled for Sept. 2, it wonât be long now until Friday nights become the busiest night of my week.
While I love football and every pulse pounding hit that comes with it, the pressure of trying to maintain fair and balanced coverage is always a huge obstacle.
July 26th
The Benton 12-year-olds defeated Blytheville 8-2 Monday night to win the 12-year-old Southwest Regional Championship and earn a trip to the Cal Ripken Major/60 World Series on August 12-19 in Visalia, Calif.
It is the third consecutive regional championship for Benton, which also won the Southwest title as 10 and 11-year-olds. Benton, who hosted the tournament for the first time, allowed just five runs over its four-game run through the tournament at Bernard Holland Park.
Blytheville came through the loserâs bracket to make the championship game.
July 25th
Siloam Springsâ leadoff batter worked his way around the diamond to score the gameâs first run after an error allowed Daniel Kent to reach third. No other Siloam batter would reach as far as second base.
Bentonâs Kaleb Moody painted the outer half of the plate for four innings, including nine ground ball outs, to take the win 11-1.
Buddy Riggan and Jacob Cooper each hit solo home runs in the second to give Benton the lead. Seven more hits and three Siloam errors later led to nine more Benton runs.
