Two Garland County teams will be playing past the regular season as Lakeside's baseball team and Lake Hamilton's softball team will be participating in the Class 5A state tournament at Benton starting Thursday. In addition, Magnet Cove's softball team and Malvern's baseball team will be playing this week as well.
Benton is hosting both baseball and softball tournaments for Class 5A with games split between three locations. Baseball games will be split between the Benton Athletic Complex and Joe T. Robinson's baseball field, and softball will be split between the Benton Athletic Complex and Riverside Park.
The Rams (19-9) finished as the No. 3 seed out of the 5A South conference, and they will face off against the Jonesboro Hurricane (24-3), the No. 2 seed from the 5A East, at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Benton Athletic Complex. The winner of Thursday's game will take the field at 5:30 p.m. Friday against the winner of 5A West winner Little Rock Christian and 5A Central No. 4 seed Maumelle on the same field.
The semifinal will be played Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Benton Athletic Complex.
Earning the No. 4 seed from the 5A South, the Lady Rams (13-11) will take the field at 10 a.m. at Riverside Park against 5A East winner Greene County Tech. The winner will play at 10 a.m. Friday at Benton Athletic Complex against the winner of 5A West runner-up Greenbrier and 5A Central No. 3 seed Maumelle.
The semifinal will be played at noon at Benton Athletic Complex.
Magnet Cove (13-13) will be traveling to Mountain Home for the Class 2A state tournament, which is being hosted by Salem. The Lady Panthers earned the No. 4 seed out of the 2A Central Regional tournament, and they will take the field at Keller Park at 10 a.m. Thursday against the winner of the 2A South Regional tournament, Parkers Chapel (18-6).
The winner of Thursday's game will play Friday at 3 p.m. at Mountain Home High School's softball field against the 2A West Regional tournament runner-up Lavaca and 2A North No. 3 seed Melbourne. The semifinal for that side of the bracket will be played at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
Malvern (17-10) finished as the runner-up from last week's 4A South Regional tournament, earning a 3 p.m. matchup against the 4A East Regional No. 4 seed Batesvillle (12-16) at Southside Batesville. The winner will then face 4A North winner Shiloh Christian (22-5) at 3 p.m. in the quarterfinals. The semifinal will be played at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The finals for all baseball and softball classifications will be played in Fayetteville on May 17 and 18 with times to be determined early next week following the determination of the competitors. Baseball will be played at Baum-Walker Stadium, and softball will be played at Bogle Park.
Sports on 05/08/2019