Mount Ida Lions baseball takes 7–1A District championship

By Ethan Nahté

The Mount Ida Lions finally got to play their district games after rain postponements throughout last week. Come Friday night, both the boys’ baseball and girls’ softball teams went up to bat on wet fields in Mount Ida.

The girls first took on the Mineral Springs Hornets. At the end of regulation seven innings, neither team had scored. Going into the eighth inning, the Lions plated four runs. The Hornets fell 4-1, sending Mount Ida to the district finals against the Kirby Trojans a few minutes later.

Battling Kirby, the girls took a quick lead of 4-2, eventually extending their lead by seven at the bottom of the fourth. Kirby, plated one in the fifth, then four more in the sixth, then overcame Mount Ida 10-9 in the seventh.

The girls ended their stellar season as the 7–1A District Tournament runner up.

Baseball

Down the hill, the boys began their evening against Kirby, getting a quick jump on them 4-0 after the first inning.

In the third inning, the Lions plated six more, with Jacob Whitfield hitting a homerun that drove in two runs, extending their lead 10-0.

Kirby changed pitchers in the middle of the fourth after hitting Lions’ Chandler Perkins in the back. At the bottom of the fourth, Mount Ida led 18-0.

The game went five innings, ending with a score of 18-0. Whitfield pitched the entire game and had 11 strikeouts to go with the goose egg.

Like the softball team, due to a tight schedule thanks to the weather, the baseball team was up to bat again 15-20 minutes later, taking on the Mineral Springs Hornets. Caleb White pitched the entire game and almost kept the Hornets in their nest, including striking out three batters.

The Lions scored three in the second inning, with two runners sliding into home under the tag and called safe. The Hornets’ catcher was not happy and managed to get ejected from the game.

The Hornets were left scoreless at the bottom of the second.

At the top of the third, the Lions seemingly couldn’t be stopped, plating nine more. Chandler Perkins was tagged out running, not sliding, to home. At the bottom of the third, Mount Ida had a 12-0 lead.

The fourth inning saw two more Lions tagged out at home, but not before the team had a 14-0 lead. The Hornets finally plated two. The inning also saw a frustrated Hornets’ pitcher walk off the mound and toss the ball to the coach as he headed to the dugout.

As it began to sprinkle at the top of the fifth, the inning went quickly. Mineral Springs had their first and third batters fly out and the second batter grounded straight to White, who threw him out at first.

The Mount Ida Lions won 14-2, taking the 7–1A District Tournament Championship. They are the No. 1 seed going into the Regional Tournament.

Their first game is in Bradley, Arkansas, against the No. 4 seed in 8–1A (UPDATE: May 3 — Bearden Bears). The game is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 4 in Bradley, Arkansas.