DeWitt Scores in 8th To Edge ‘Cats, 3-1

RISON - DeWitt did enough Tuesday afternoon at Wildcat Field to win the battle, but it may not have done enough to win the war.The Dragons had two of their three hits for the game to lead off the eighth as they converted both into runs to lead DeWitt to a 3-1 extra-inning decision over the Rison Wildcats in a showdown between the two teams atop the 8-3A standings. Rison and DeWitt both have one loss in conference play with the Wildcats sitting at 7-1 and the Dragons at 8-1.The two teams split their regular season games with Rison winning 6-2 at DeWitt on March 21. Should both teams win out, the Wildcats would earn the no. 1 seed by virtue of their four-run win over the Dragons compared to DeWitt's two-run win Tuesday.Rison still has conference games scheduled at Dumas and Helena while hosting McGehee.Should the 'Cats win ou, it would give Rison it's first conference championship since 2004 when Rison shared the 7-2A East title with Hampton.Since the 8-3A will not have a district tournament, seeding for the regional tournament will be determined by the final conference standings."It's what you expect from two teams playing for conference in eight innings," said Rison Coach Chad Cope after Tuesday's hearbreaker. "Hats off to them. (De-Witt Coach Drew Horton) told me after the game that is probably the most complete game they've played all year."They've got some guys who can really throw it," he said. "We had our chances… But give credit to them. That kid (Dragon starter Griffin Whitmore) is really good." While he said his team was upset in the post-game meeting, he said he reminded them they still control their destiny."I told my kids we played hard. We competed… I'll sleep fine tonight because we played our butts off," Cope said.Runs were hard to come by as the game turned out to be a pitching duel between Whitmore, a senior right-hander, and Rison sophomore right-hander Noah Matheson.The only...