The Class 7A State soccer, softball and baseball tournaments begin today including the girls’ soccer tourney, which will be hosted for the first time ever by the Bryant Lady Hornets.
The boys’ soccer teams will meet in Cabot while the softball teams head to Rogers. Baseball will be held at Bentonville and Fayetteville.
Girls soccer
The Lady Hornets soccer team is eyeing a return to the State championship game. Last year, they reached the final for the first time and lost a gut-wrencher to Bentonville.
This year, both Bryant and Bentonville are No. 1 seeds and have first-round byes. As it turned out, the two teams wound up on the same side of the bracket and would meet in the semifinals on Saturday if both get past their quarterfinal games on Friday.
The Lady Hornets and Lady Tigers met early in the season at a tournament in Fort Smith. Bryant prevailed 3-2 to win the tourney. In 2014, the two teams battled to a scoreless tie at the same tourney before meeting again in the State final. The loss was the only one suffered by the Lady Hornets all season.
Bryant is 19-2 overall, winning 11 of the last 12. The Lady Hornets have won by shutout 10 times.
See the full brackets, here.
Baseball
Meanwhile, the Bryant baseball team will be trying to repeat as Class 7A champions. The Hornets are 28-2 after a 33-2 record in the 2014 title campaign. They’ve won 13 games in a row.
Hornets’ pitchers shut out their three opponents last year, Fort Smith Southside, Conway and, in the championship game, Fayetteville. Both of the pitchers that threw those shutouts are back led by the 2014 MVP, Blaine Knight, who threw two of those games. Junior Zach Jackson threw the other won as a sophomore. He’s back after recovering from an injury that cost him nearly the entire 2015 campaign.
The Hornets only needed two wins to get to the finals last season. This year, they’ll need three, starting with a tough Rogers Heritage team today at noon. Bentonville, which will host the bottom half of the bracket, awaits the winner on Friday.
A rematch with Fayetteville can only come in the championship game.
For the full brackets, go here.
Softball
A very young Lady Hornets team has produced a 16-5 record overall this season, clinching a No. 1 seed and a first-round bye at State. They’ll open on Friday at 12:30 p.m., against the winner of a first-round game between Rogers Heritage and West Memphis.
Last year, the Lady Hornets won their first-round game over Fort Smith Southside before running into Bentonville.
This season, Bryant has just two seniors, Abby Staton, who played last year, along with Cayla McDowell, who had to sit out last season after transferring in. Junior catcher Julie Ward is a returning starter who played particularly well late last season and at State.
With the combination of youth and talent, the Lady Hornets could be a real threat to make it to the finals if they get on a roll and play consistently.
See the full bracket, here.
Boys soccer
With the return of head coach Jason Hay after a year off while former assistant Brett Haugh took over, the Hornets have battled through some adversity, injuries and just some bad breaks, as their 8-10-1 overall record might indicate.
But when they had to get a win to get into the tournament, they got it done against Van Buren, 1-0, on May 5.
With a new beginning, the Hornets hope to find their stride and make some noise at State.
Last year, they were a top seed with a bye and a 16-4-1 record going into the tournament but lost a heartbreaker in double overtime, 1-0, to Springdale Har-Ber.
This year, they open today at 2 p.m., against Rogers. If they can get past the Mounties, they’ll face East champion Cabot, a team they played twice this season, winning 3-2 on March 16, and losing in a shootout, 1-0, in the Little Rock Christian Tournament on March 14.
For the full brackets, go here.
