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Malvern Leopard Anthony Witherspoon (left), Lady Leopard Samantha Lee (center), and Bismarck Lady Lion Melisa Walker will be in Fayetteville with their respective teams this weekend for the Arkansas State Baseball and Softball Championships. (Photos by Paxton Penny)
Three Hot Spring County teams will be traveling to Fayetteville this weekend for the Arkansas Baseball and Softball State Championships.
The Malvern Leopards, top seed out of the AAAAA Southwest Conference, finished 13-1 this season in conference. They lost their first conference match at Lakeside but won the following 13 consecutive. Coach Darryl Baker is quite familiar with the State Championship stage. He led Leopard teams to State Championships in 1992 and 2001. The Leopards defeated Pulaski Academy 11-1 in the first round of the State Tournament on Friday. They edged Greenwood 9-8 in the quarterfinals on Saturday and took a 3-2 win over Little Rock Christian Monday at Wynne in the semis. The Leopards will battle the AAAAA West’s top-seeded Harrison Goblins in the State Championship this Saturday at Baum Stadium on the campus of the University of Arkansas, 3 p.m. The Malvern Lady Leopards also finished 13-1 in conference this season. They boast a 41-1 conference record over the last three seasons. They won 34 consecutive games, but the streak was ended by Hope earlier in the season. Head coach Mike Scarbrough was Baker’s assistant when the baseball team won the crown in 1992. They beat Pulaski Robinson 4-0 in the first round of the tournament Friday. They earned a 4-3 win in eight innings over Harrison in the quarterfinal round on Saturday. That game was postponed in the fifth inning due to rain, and the teams were forced to finish later that evening. They overcame the Southeast’s top-seeded Crosset Monday evening in Harrison, 2-0. The Lady Leopards will also be playing as the top seed out of the AAAAA Southwest. They will take on Nettleton, the top seed out of AAAAA East, this Friday, 4 p.m. at Lady ‘Back Yard, also on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. The Bismarck Lady Lions are the second seed out of Region 4-AAA and have not allowed a run in the State Tournament. They took a 2-0 win over Manila on Friday. They eliminated Region 2’s top-seeded Atkins in the second round by a score of 4-0 on Saturday and humiliated Region 3’s winner, Cave City, 7-0 in Monday’s semifinals at Pine Bluff. Coach Angela Smith’s Lady Lions finished with a perfect conference record. They will play at Lady ‘Back Yard Saturday, 2 p.m. against Region 1’s top-seeded Elkins Elks. We will have a special section saluting our county’s State Championship competitors in this Friday’s Malvern Daily Record.
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