Piggott hosts district tourney

For the first time in nearly a decade, Piggott hosted the high school district baseball tournament last week for 3AAA-North. The tournament kicked-off with two games on Thursday afternoon, continued with four games on Friday and wrapped up late Saturday afternoon with the third place and championship games. Just minutes after the trophies were awarded to the top two the clouds opened up and the rains came.

Prior to the start of the tournament improvements were made to the field at Independence Park. A fundraiser was held and nearly $2,000 was generated, that money was then used to purchase "Turface" which was used on all the infield surfaces. The material, which is made up primarily of ground shell, drains much better than regular turf and is the chosen surface for ball diamonds.

Former coach Brock Swann, along with Kevin Murray, Brett McMillon, Larry Lovelace, Billy Jo Seal and several others helped prep the field prior to the start of the tournament, and kept it maintained during the week. Murray also served as public address announcer for all eight of the games.

Game one Thursday afternoon saw the Harrisburg Hornets advance with a 16-6 win over Hoxie, and in the late game that afternoon the Mohawks beat the Brookland Bearcats 2-0 to advance.

Friday's games started at noon, and in the first contest of the day Rivercrest eliminated Harrisburg, later the Mohawks fell to the Bobcats. Late Friday the semi-finals were played, with Tuckerman beating Rivercrest in one game and the Manila Lions downing the Corning Bobcats in the other.

Saturday's third place contest went to Rivercrest, as they beat the Bobcats 12-2 and in the finale the Manila Lions beat the Tuckerman Bulldogs by a final of 6-4. All four of those team are taking part in this week's regional tournament at Tuckerman.

Thanks to Coach Shawn Hearn and his volunteer groundskeepers for their hard work in preparing, and maintaining, the ball field during the tournament. The coach also offered his thanks to assistant coach Alan Rabjohn for his help during the brief hospitalization of Hearn's son Pearson in the days leading up to the tournament.

The many compliments from the participating coaches, players and their fans was well-deserved as the Piggott facility was in top form, thanks to the volunteers and staff of Piggott Parks and Recreation.