Archive - Sports Article
April 2nd, 2013
The Malvern Leopards baseball team picked up another conference win in their trip to Ashdown on Monday.
Malvern used a four-run sixth inning to come back on Ashdown for a 6-4 victory.
Malvern got on the board first, scoring two runs in the second inning. Ashdown would answer in the bottom of the third with two runs of their own to tie the game at 2-2.
The Panthers added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 4-2 advantage.
For the full story, see Tuesday's Malvern Daily Record.
The state of Arkansas was represented well at the USA Girls Folkstyle Nationals wrestling event, with two of the three competing members finishing in the top three.
It was the first appearance in the event for Team Arkansas, which included Jackie Brashears from Woodlawn (who was unable to compete because of a shoulder injury), Aimee Wright of Glen Rose (who finished second in the 15-year-old 143-pound division), Heather Whitehead of Bismarck (in the 12-year-old division) and Isabella McGuire of Glen Rose (who finished third in the 8-year-old 60-pound division).
The Final Four is finally set and if anyone out there had this particular grouping, I believe I would have to call you a liar.
That being said, the Final Four is a lot more believable than the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight.
But with a lot of unusual teams making deep runs into the tournament, there are only two possible outcomes.
We see unbelievable Cinderella stories (think George Mason and Butler) or they burn out with a fizzle.
Sadly, this year we got that second option.
For the full column, see Tuesday's Malvern Daily Record.
March 26th
On a windy cold day, the baseball and softball teams from Poyen High School traveled to Magnet Cove High School for a pair of games.
In the softball game, the Lady Panthers of Magnet Cove won a decisive 15-0 decision in three innings.
Pitcher Erin Pankey went the full three innings facing the minimum number of batters (nine) while striking out seven. From the plate she was a perfect 2-2 with five RBI including a three-run home run.
Laney Gibson was also 2-2 from the plate with three runs scored.
For the full story, see Tuesday's Malvern Daily Record.
By now, I doubt that any of us have a bracket that is even worth looking at, but that’s not to say the NCAA tournament hasn’t been enjoyable.
Everyone I know has lost at least one Final Four team by now, and now that our brackets are completely ruined, we can look to the fun side of the tournament — namely the upsets.
The biggest story of the tournament so far has been, without a doubt, the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles.
For the full column, see Tuesday's Malvern Daily Record.
March 22nd
There was a time when small schools dotted the landscape of Arkansas.
I don’t mean small like Ouachita High School, I’m talking about schools so small that it would take two of them combining to make Ouachita High.
One of those schools is Friendship High School. Back in the 1930s and 1940s, the Bulldogs were a fearsome team.
In 1938, they defeated Hot Springs, Little Rock and North Little Rock in a single season. They may have also defeated Malvern that year.
The debate has been raging for as long as I can remember, with most of the arguing coming from Jonesboro, that the University of Arkansas should play Arkansas State University in football.
I can’t say I am for or against this kind of game.
On one hand it would be kind of fun to see the two big in-state teams play each other.
On the other hand, however, there is no real reason for the game (from the Razorbacks’ standpoint).
For the full column, see Saturday's Malvern Daily Record.
Well that didn’t take long. The early games of the day I was looking like a genius with my picks being on the right side of all the close games.
When I suffered my first loss (Oklahoma State falling to Oregon), I felt I was still in good shape because I didn’t have the Cowboys going any further.
Then the big one happened. To be honest I never saw it coming and since I went to sleep fairly early, I never saw it period.
For the full column, see Friday's Malvern Daily Record.
March 21st
Well, the day is finally upon us. We have had our last chance to fill out the brackets and get in on March Madness.
If you were anything like me this year, you might as well have been blindfolded while throwing darts at different schools.
I must have filled out five or six different brackets for various contests and as I finished each one, I just stared in disbelief at what I had done.
I’ve had my troubles with brackets in the past, but that was mainly due to upsets happening that no one expected or that one rare year where there were virtually no upsets.
March 20th
Malvern Lady Leopards head coach Jess Martin and assistant coach Cleveland Gordon, who has been with the team four years, have a theory with their practices.
They aim to make the practices as hard as they can so when it comes time for an actual game, the players are having fun.
That’s not to say that they don’t occasionally have fun in practice as well.
Martin praises Gordon’s role on the team whenever he gets the chance.
“He is the enforcer — the bad guy coach,” Martin said jokingly. “He has a great rapport with the kids. He works hard and does a lot of stuff that goes unnoticed.”
