Former Wampus Cats help OBU to GAC title
Three former Conway High basketball players, members of Ouachita Baptist University’s men’s team, played a major roll in the Tigers’ surprising run to their first conference title in NCAA Division II.
OBU (17-12) upset Southeastern Oklahoma, 67-60, top-seeded Harding, 78-63, and defending champion Arkansas Tech, 59-54, in the title game. The Tigers, however, did not get a bid to the Division II playoffs.
Colt Fason, who played for Conway’s 7A state runner-up team in 2009 and the 7A state title team in 2011, was the Most Valuable Player in the tournament. He had 15 points and 10 rebounds in the title game. He had 17 points and seven rebounds against Harding and 10 points and eight rebounds against SE Oklahoma.
Austin Mitchell, a member of the Cats’ 2009 team, had four points against Tech, 17 against Harding and nine against Southeastern Oklahoma.
Micah Delph, a member of the 2009 and 2011 teams, scored nine points (including key back-to-back 3-pointers) in the title game against Tech, four points against Harding and three against Southeastern Oklahoma.
Bears ranked in two baseball polls
The University of Central Arkansas Bears debuted in two national baseball polls on Monday after taking two of three games from third-ranked Mississippi State last weekend at storied Dudy Noble Field in Starkville, Miss.
UCA, 14-2 overall, is ranked No. 30 in both the National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll and the Collegiate Baseball poll. It is the first time for the Bears to be ranked since moving to NCAA Division I in 2007.
Mississippi State was undefeated (16-0) and ranked as high as No. 3 in last week’s polls before dropping two games to UCA. The Bears lost 4-2 on Friday, but then beat the Bulldogs 7-5 in 10 innings on Saturday and claimed the series win with a 7-3 victory on Sunday. UCA is now 3-1 against the Bulldogs over the past two seasons after last season’s 2-0 victory in Starkville.
Hendrix’s Larabee gets softball honor
Hendrix College’s Michaela Larabee has been named the Southern Athletic Association Softball Hitter of the Week.
Larabee led the Warriors at the plate with a .500 average (7-of-14), two doubles and three RBI to go with three runs scored and stolen base as Hendrix took three out of four games from Centre in conference play over the weekend. The Farmington native had a hit in every game, including three hits in the first game on Sunday. For the week, Lararabee slugged .643 and had an on-base percentage of .533.