The Greenwood Bulldogs defeated Sheridan to win the conference championship on Monday, May 5th.
Pitcher, Landry Jurecka, worked around an error in the bottom of the first to bring up the bats for Greenwood. Connor Noland reached first on an error to start the inning, and Brandon Woolsey followed with a single to get things going for the Bulldogs. Colton Sagely grounded into a fielder's choice, which put men on the corners. Greenwood tact across its first run of the game when the Yellowjackets committed their second error of the inning. That’d be all for Greenwood in the inning, but their defense got them right back onto the field.
The Yellowjackets had something brewing in the bottom half, but it was eliminated by a 6-3-2 double play (Holt climbed the ladder at short, fired to Woolsey, who fired home to Smith to get the runner out at home). Getting out of the jam gave Greenwood all the momentum, and it showed in the top of the third. Chance Eoff started off the inning with a walk, which was followed by another Sheridan error. This put men on first and second for Cooper Passmore, and he laid down a beautiful bunt advancing the runners to second and third with one out. Peyton Holt knocked in one of those runs as he singled to shortstop.
With two outs in the inning Woolsey stepped up to the plate, and he delivered knocking in two runners with an RBI single to left. This made it a 4-0 ballgame in the third inning, but Greenwood was not done yet. Colton Sagely singled, moving Woolsey to third, and then Jurecka helped his own cause. He knocked in a run due to an error by the Yellowjackets shortstop. This was it for Greenwood in the third, but they knocked in four runs and made it a 5-0 ballgame.
The story from here on out was Landry Jurecka. He pitched all seven innings and did not allow one run to the third ranked team in the state of Arkansas. Jurecka only allowed five hits as well, but he also had the strong Greenwood defense behind him. Greenwood went on to win 5-0 and claim another conference championship trophy.
The state tournament is taking place in Greenwood this year, and the Bulldogs are going to play on Friday. The time is still TBA, but it should be at either 3:00 PM or 10:00 AM.