A day after clinching the outright District 1-5A championship without playing, the Benton Tigers didn’t rest on their laurels Tuesday.
Benton opened its final two-game district series with a 12-6 victory over Natchitoches Central at home.
The Tigers improved to 25-4 overall and 12-1 in 1-5A. Benton leads second-place Haughton (25-6, 9-4) and Byrd (21-6, 9-4) by three games with one to play.
Elsewhere Tuesday, Parkway routed Calvary Baptist 15-2 in a non-district game at Calvary.
The Panthers (18-10) have won seven of their last eight, including a 4-0 victory over Haughton on Monday that clinched the outright championship for Benton.
At Benton, the Tigers broke a 4-4 tie with eight runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Dane Stearns and Rylan Lawrence had singles in the inning. Jack Walters’ bases-loaded double brought home the final three runs.
Benton also took advantage of four walks, a hit-by-pitch and a dropped third strike.
Clint Lasiter went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Brock Van Hoy went 2-for-3 with a double. Stearns also had two hits. Lawrence had two RBI.
Starter Hayden Hable allowed four hits and no earned runs with 10 strikeouts in five innings. Grayson Mims got the win in relief.
Benton is scheduled to host Neville at 6 p.m. Wednesday in a non-district game. The Tigers will then close the regular season at Natchitoches Central at 6 Thursday.
The regular season officially ends Saturday with playoff pairings announced Sunday. Benton is currently No. 7 in the Class 5A power rankings, according to GeauxPreps.com. The top 16 teams in the final official rankings host first-round games.
At Calvary Baptist, the Panthers had two huge innings in the five-inning game, scoring seven in the second and eight in the fifth.
Cameron Fink smacked a two-run home run in the second. Brandon Levy had a two-run triple. Hayden Knotts had an RBI-double. Trenton Defatta had two singles.
Zach Schoenborn and Brady Norcross also had singles. Trenton Lape scored a run with a sacrifice fly.
Defatta, Fink, Schoenborn, Barrett Newman and Gabe Larry had consecutive singles in the fifth. Knotts followed with a two-run double.
Defatta made it 14-0 with a two-run double. He finished 4-for-4 with three RBI.
Knotts went 3-for-4 with three RBI. Fink and Schoenborn had two hits each. Newman had two RBI.
Cade Josting allowed six hits, struck out eight and walked only one.
Parkway is scheduled to close its final district series against Haughton at 6 Wednesday at Haughton.
According to GeauxPreps.com, the Panthers are No. 18 in the power rankings and will have to move up at least two spots to host a first-round playoff game.
A victory over No. 6 Haughton could do that. Parkway is scheduled to close the regular season at 4 Thursday at Claiborne Christian.
Airline (9-20, 5-8) visits Captain Shreve (14-16, 7-6) at 6 Wednesday. The Vikings are No. 34 in the power rankings and will have to move up at least two spots to make the playoffs.
Elsewhere Tuesday, Bossier fell to Castor 25-9 at the Bearkats’ field at Rusheon.
Coleman Beeson, Kaleb McClinton and Preston McClinton had two hits apiece.
Bossier trailed 12-7 after five innings. But Castor put 13 on the board in the sixth.
Bossier dropped a 4-1 decision to Minden on Monday at home. Avery Williams allowed four hits and two earned runs in five innings. Beeson struck out four in two innings of relief.
Bossier (6-17) is scheduled to close the regular season against Plain Dealing at 5:30 Thursday at home. At No. 28 in the Class 3A power rankings, the Bearkats are in a position to make the playoffs.
Plain Dealing defeated Arcadia 7-6 in a District 1-1A game at home Monday. The Lions fell to Summerfield 9-0 in a non-district game at home Tuesday.
Plain Dealing (6-12, 3-2) is No. 19 in the Class 1A power rankings.
NOTE: The above report is based on information on teams’ GameChanger accounts and provided by coaches.
