The Benton Tigers earned a share of the District 1-4A baseball championship with a 7-2 victory over the Northwood Falcons on Thursday at Northwood.
It is Benton’s sixth straight title.
Benton finished the regular season 21-12 overall and 10-2 in district. North DeSoto (21-13, 10-2) claimed a share of the title with a 7-0 victory over Minden.
Benton and North DeSoto split their two games. Both teams are headed to the playoffs. Benton will host a first-round game. Pairings will be announced Sunday
Elsewhere, the Airline Vikings defeated the Haughton Bucs 5-2 in a District 1-5A finale at Haughton. The teams split the two-game series.
In a non-district game, the Parkway Panthers closed the regular season with a 15-1 victory over North Webster in Springhill.
Captain Shreve (30-3, 10-2) wrapped up the district championship with a 12-0 victory at Southwood. Parkway (23-8, 9-3) finished second and Haughton (18-15, 8-4) third.
Shreve, Parkway, Haughton and Airline (13-19, 5-7) are all headed to the playoffs. Airline has one regular-season game left scheduled for noon Saturday against Claiborne Christian at home.
In another District 1-4A game, the Bossier Bearkats closed the season with a 14-3 victory over Woodlawn at Woodlawn.
At Northwood, Benton pounded out 10 hits and got a solid performance from starter Kade Bailey.
Garrett Hable, Cade Scott, JT Brice and Peyton Long had two hits apiece. Hable and Long doubled.
Cole Horton doubled with the bases loaded in the fourth, scoring three and putting the Tigers ahead 7-0.
Benton also scored three in the third. Scott, Cody Norris and Long all had singles. The Tigers also took advantage of a pair of walks and a hit-by-pitch.
Bailey went 5 1/3 innings. He allowed four hits, struck out four and walked one.
At Haughton, Jerry Couch pitched a three-hitter and went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Bryson Connell’s sacrifice fly gave Airline a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
Haughton answered with two in the bottom of the inning. Peyton Stovall led off with a walk, advanced to third on Mason Simmons’ single and scored on an error.
Simmons, who reached third on the error, scored on Cameron Townsend’s sacrifice bunt.
Airline took the lead for good with three in the third.
Hunter Hollis, Hayden Travinski and Couch had consecutive singles. Chris Hayes’ two-our double to center field scored the final two runs of the inning.
At North Webster, Caleb Reese went 2-for-3 with a home run and four RBI. Peyton Lewis had two hits, including a home run, and three RBI.
Amani Larry had a double and three RBI. Eric Williams had two RBI.
Christion Rayner allowed four hits and struck out six in four innings.
Parkway’s 23-8 record is its best since 2003, when the Panthers reached the quarterfinals.
“I’m very proud of this team,” Parkway coach David George said.
At Woodlawn, Jon Mikal Robertson, who has had an outstanding season, went 3-for-3 with three runs scored an an RBI.
Devin Snipes also went 3-for-3 with two RBI. Preston Allen had two hits. Kaleb Harlow doubled and drove in two runs. Chase Bounds, Durrell May, Rangel Miller and Jamaal Brooks all had hits.
Bossier completed the season 7-18 overall and 4-8 in 1-4A.
NOTE: The above report is based on information on the teams’ official GameChanger accounts or information received from coaches.
— Russell Hedges, rhedges@bossierpress.com
