Jay Burroughs News Today

The high school softball season in Union County featured parity with all of the teams competing on similar levels. Only one school advanced to the state tournament - Smackover, which qualified in Class 3A. Individually, several players managed to separate themselves from the pack and combine to form the News-Times All-Area Softball Team.

Junction City is scheduled to play Murfreesboro Thursday at 5:30 p.m., in the first round of the 2A South Regional Softball Tournament at Parkers Chapel.

JUNCTION CITY - Junction City senior De’Nyah Brown made contact when it counted Thursday, drilling a walk-off, grand slam home run in the bottom of the seventh to beat Parkers Chapel 13-11 in the 2A 8 District Tournament.

Junction City will host the 2A 8 District Softball Tournament beginning Tuesday with the No. 6 vs. No. 7 game between Ouachita and Fordyce, respectively, at 5 p.m.

YUCCA VALLEY — The Trojan baseball team emerged victorious from the first game with their rivals, the Twentynine Palms Wildcats, Tuesday, April 9. The varsity Yucca Valley boys won 17-4.

The softball season started in late February for most high school teams but it felt like it just began last week. Rain, rain and more rain and then Spring Break week has gotten the season off to a soggy, sporadic start. Most teams were able to get in two or three games last week and every schedule is full for the rest of the season. Last week’s play was indicative of the season with spotty fielding and poor timing at the plate. The weather has played a factor for most teams.

Junction City began its spring break with a jamboree in Louisiana.

Junction City softball coaches had a dilemma when filling out the Lady Dragons’ batting order. Where to bat Allie Thurmon?

Junction City softball coach Jay Burroughs said, “We pulled up at the field at Crossett (Thursday) and I asked my assistant, wonder if ‘G’ is thinking about this game from last year? This is the game that she injured her knee.” The coach was speaking about Kalani Noble, who suffered the knee injury late last season. It forced her to miss the 2A State Tournament. If she was thinking about the injury before the game, it didn’t show. The senior went 3-for-4 with a home run in the Lady Dra...

Things were so much simpler when teams played district tournaments at the end of the season to decide who advanced to the regional. Coaches in the 2A 8 voted against the district tournament in favor of seeding teams into the regional tournament based on the regular-season round-robin records. Going into the final week of softball, according to Scorebook Live, Woodlawn has sewn up the No. 1 seed but Ouachita, Parkers Chapel, Junction City and Fordyce are all within a game of one another. There�...