Local teams gear up for zone tournament
Conway NBMC coach Damon Smith was hoping to get a tune-up for today's American Legion first round game of the zone tournament at Burns Park with a non-zone game Thursday night.
Smith saw what he wanted to see during Thursday's game against the Conway Cougars at Curtis Walker Park as Conway NBMC came away with a 21-12 victory in nine innings.
"We needed something like this to get momentum built for Saturday," Smith said. "It was good that we played a lot of innings, so we were able to get some work in. We were able to pitch a lot of guys, and that was critical because they need to be loose going into the zone tournament. We want them to be rested."
Conway NBMC earned a No. 2 seed behind Sylvan Hills in the tournament. Conway NBMC's first-round opponent will be seventh-seeded Cabot. The game is slated for 5 p.m., and both teams are familiar with each other. Conway NBMC swept all three games from Cabot this season.
"We've had some good success against Cabot, but they're a good bunch," Smith said, "If we play like we're suppose to, then we should be in contention for it. We may not get the breaks but we should get there. It's one game at a time and that's how you have to look at it."
The Conway Cougars will be the second local team participating in the same zone tournament. The Cougars beat Conway NBMC 7-3 in a zone game earlier this season at Curtis Walker Park. The Cougars, a No. 6 seed, will have an uphill battle their first round game against third-seeded North Little Rock.
"(On Thursday) was an important game for us because I was able to pitch six pitchers," Conway Cougars coach Kyle Williams said. "We had a lot of pitchers that we got to look at the plate for batting, and I hope that we'll be ready to play. Both us and (Conway NBMC) are good teams. We beat them earlier in a zone game, and they just beat us. It was important that while doing this game that both teams were able to get some practice in, and we were definitely able to do that."
Conway NBMC recorded two home runs in the contest. The first one came off the bat of Tyler Spangler, who tied with Kirby Powell's mark for the most home runs on the team with four. The second homer was by the team's No. 1 pitcher Wade Beck. Smith said that Beck will get the start on the mound Saturday.
"If you get beat in the first round with your starting pitcher, then you have some problems," Smith said.