SPORTS

Mt. Vernon is 9-1 against Richland County since May of 2017, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Tuesday. The Mt. Vernon Rams will head out on the road to take on the Richland County Tigers at 4:30 p.m. Mt. Vernon is coming in off a wild...

PALESTINE - The Woodlawn Bears will be pursuing their fourth consecutive state baseball championship this weekend when they face the Ouachita Warriors in the Class 2A state finals at 4 p.m. Saturday at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.Meanwhile, the Rison Lady Wildcats and Woodlawn Lady Bears fell short in their bids to advance to the Class 2A state soft ball finals. Magnet Cove hit a a two-out homerun in the top of the seventh to edge the Lady Wildcats, 2-1, in the state quarterfinals on Friday while the Lady Bears fell to Riverside, 5-0, in the semi finals on Saturday. (See sto ries page 8) The Bears (34-1) and War riors (20-11) are quite famil iar with one another having played twice this year in 8-2A conference play. Woodlawn won both games: 9-6 at home on April 23 and 7-3 at Oua chita on March 29. Woodlawn won the 8-2A championship this year with a 12-0 record while Ouachita was second at 10-2. The Bears, the no. 1 seed from the South Region, qualified for the state championship game by knocking off Cedar Ridge 8-5 on Saturday in the late semifinal game at Palestine on Saturday in the late semifinal game at Palestine-Wheatley High School. Woodlawn defeated Mountainburg, 11-2, in the first round of the state tournament on Thursday before edging Riverside, 1-0, in the quarterfinals on Friday.The Warriors, the no. 3 seed from the South, beat Rector 8-4 in the early semifinal game. Ouachita opened the state tournament with a 6-0 shutout of Greenland on Thursday before beating McCrory, 4-1, in the quarterfinals on Friday.Taking out the 2020 season that was canceled due to the COVID pandemic, this will be the Bears' eighth consecutive appearance in the state championship game, and the 13th overall since 2007.Over that span, Woodlawn has gone 9-3 in title games. The Bears have won the past three state championship, defeating Palestine-Wheatley 3-2 for the 2023 crown; knocking off Bigelow 7-2 for the 2022 championship; and beating South Side-Bee Branch, 5…

With a playoff game on the line, Waltonville rose to the challenge on Wednesday. They never let the Norris City-Omaha-Enfield Fighting Cardinals onto the board and left with an 8-0 win. The result was nothing new for Waltonville, who have now won 15 games by seven runs or more so far this season.

The Benton Rangers will face off against the DuQuoin Indians at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The two teams are strolling into their games after big wins in their previous games. Benton is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Monday. They were the clear victor by a 12-2 margin over Pinckneyville. Benton's hitters stepped up their game for this one, as that was the most runs they've scored all season.

PALESTINE - Tate Hall's torrid pace at the plate continued Saturday afternoon as he had yet another triple and double to drive in four runs as the Woodlawn Bears grabbed an early lead to cruise past the Cedar Ridge Timberwolves, 8-5, in the Class 2A state tournament semifinals at Palestine-Wheatley High School.With the win, Woodlawn advances to play in the Class 2A state finals at 4 p.m. Saturday at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. The Bears, ther 8-2A conference champions, will face a familiar opponent in the Ouachita Warriors, the 8-2A conference runners-up.Ouachita, the no. 3 seed from the South Region, knocked off Rector, 8-4, in the early semifinal game on Saturday.After having to squeeze out a 1-0 victory over Riverside in the quarterfinal game on Friday, the Bears wanted to get off to a quick start against the Timberwovles and they got that.Peyton Wells singled to start the game and Garrett Weatherford then drew a walk to put two aboard with no one out. With one out, Hall blasted a triple into left field, scoring both Wells and Weatherford. Hall's courtesy runner, Gage Boykin, then scored on Dillon Lunsford's ground out to give the Bears a quick 3-0 lead.Woodlawn Coach Tommy Richardson said building that three-run lead early was critical in giving the team some breathing room, especially after having to sweat out that narrow win in the quarterfinals on Friday. "Collectively, you could hear the (sigh) in the dugout because last night we didn't get that," Richardson said. "We didn't get it (any runs scored) a for a while. .. Everybody was tight. Today, everybody was relaxed and we hit the baseball a lot better."We hit the ball really well against a good pitcher (Cedar Ridge's Kyle Provence)," he said.Cedar Ridge used a lead-off walk and a one-out single by Provence to plate a run in the top of the third to make it 3-1. The Bears turned a double-play against the next batter to end the inning.While the Timberwolves managed to get runners on base…

Mount Vernon Christian had already proven themselves in the regular season and they didn't miss a beat now that it's playoff time. They never let the Mossyrock Vikings onto the board and left with a 3-0 victory on Tuesday. The win made it back-to-back victories for Mount Vernon Christian. For...