Sports

Bears, Wildcats use comeback route to get to Fayetteville

By Jeremy Muck/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 9:25 AM CDT

Watson Chapel and Woodlawn have several things in common.

— They’re coached by a Richardson, brothers Wayne at Watson Chapel and Tommy at Woodlawn.

— Their rosters are full of seniors. The Wildcats have 11 seniors this year and the Bears returned several key veterans from their Class 2A runner-up team from 2007.

— They’re both headed to Fayetteville this weekend for the state baseball championships, Watson Chapel in the Class 6A title game and Woodlawn in the Class 2A title game for the second year in a row.

But in order to punch their ticket to northwest Arkansas, both the Wildcats and Bears needed to make a dramatic comeback (or two) to do so.

Wayne Richardson’s Wildcats were expected to be one of the top teams in Class 6A this year. They responded with a 6A-South Conference regular season championship, which earned them the No. 1 seed in the state tournament in Texarkana last weekend.

On Saturday in the 6A quarterfinals against Jacksonville, the Wildcats had a 2-0 lead in the top of the seventh with their ace Michael Newby on the mound. However, Jacksonville scored twice in the seventh to tie the game at 2-2.

Watson Chapel trailed 5-2 going into the bottom of the 12th inning after the Red Devils scored three runs in the top of the inning. The Wildcats came back to tie the game at 5-5 thanks to Chance Cleveland’s two-run double.

Cleveland was magnificent in seven innings of relief on Saturday, striking out 12 and allowing four hits to help keep the Red Devils at bay. His offense got him the win in the bottom of the 13th as Nick Cox started the inning with a base hit. Tyler Massanelli, who was 0-for-5 going into the 13th, hit a game-winning single that brought home Jon Gay to send Watson Chapel to the state semifinals against Jonesboro.

If you’ve been around high school sports long enough, you’ve probably heard the cheer, “Just like (insert sport here).” Watson Chapel’s boys’ basketball team ended Jonesboro’s season on Feb. 29 with a tip-in from Jeffrey Little. Once again, the Wildcats ended the Hurricane’s season, but this time, it was on the diamond.

Watson Chapel came away with a 6-3 win over Jonesboro on Monday to head to their first state championship game since 2000, when the Wildcats defeated Greenwood. During his long career at Watson Chapel, Wayne Richardson has led the Wildcats to four state championships and is looking for No. 5 on Saturday against Sylvan Hills, who won the 6A-East Conference regular season championship.

Not to be outdone, Wayne’s brother Tommy Richardson and his Woodlawn Bears had some comeback magic of their own.

The only difference? The Bears didn’t have to travel more than a half-hour to find that magic.

Woodlawn was trailing Junction City 9-2 on Saturday in the 2A quarterfinals at Taylor Field. My scorebook was clean through three and a half innings of action.

By the end of the game, my scorebook looked like my bedroom when I was 13 years old: Extremely messy.

The Bears broke out for 13 runs in the fourth and fifth innings to earn a 16-12 victory over Junction City to advance to the 2A state semifinals against Parkers Chapel. Woodlawn scored nine runs in the fourth to take a 11-9 lead and then scored four more runs in the fifth to go up 15-11.

Parkers Chapel, who defeated Woodlawn in last year’s state championship game, took a 3-0 lead on Monday before the Bears came to bat. But as was the case Saturday, the Bears overcame yet another deficit and came back to win 6-5, earning their second trip to Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.

Woodlawn will face Dierks in the 2A state championship game at 7 p.m. Friday. The Bears’ faithful made Pine Bluff and White Hall their second home over the weekend. Any high school team in the state would love to have the fanbase that Woodlawn has, as they appreciate what is happening with the Bears’ program in recent years.

Whether you’re a Watson Chapel or Woodlawn supporter or just a plain ol’ baseball fan in southeast Arkansas, there’s a lot to appreciate about the two teams representing southeast Arkansas in this weekend’s state championship games. Watson Chapel and Woodlawn are the two best baseball teams southeast Arkansas has to offer this season. Having seen both teams play on multiple occasions, I know the Wildcats and Bears can compete with anyone in the state.

Baum Stadium, get ready. Here comes southeast Arkansas.