Bears, 'Cats, Lady Bears Set For Regionals Thurs.

RISON - The Rison Wildcats and Woodlawn Bears will be competing in the Class 2A South Region Baseball Tournament beginning this Thursday at Horatio while the Woodlawn Lady Bears will be competing in the South Region Softball Tournament Thursday at Horatio. Brackets for both tournaments can be found on page 8 of this issue. All three teams qualified for post-season play following completion the 8-2A Conference schedules last week. The Bears and Lady Bears both won their respective conference championships while the Wildcats needed a 2-0 win over Gurdon last Friday to lock up the no. 4 seed on the baseball side. Since there was no district tournament this year, teams qualified for the regional tournament based on their order of finish in the final conference standings. The Bears, the defending Class 2A state champions, are schedule to play Spring Hill Bears at 10 a.m. Thursday at Horatio while the Wildcats are set to play the Dierks Outlaws at 3 p.m. Thursday at Horatio. Spring Hill is the no. 4 seed from the 7-2A conference while Dierks is the no. 1 seed after winning the district baseball tournament last week. The Lady Bears are scheduled to play the Murfreesboro Lady Rattlers at 10 a.m. Thursday at Horatio. Murfreesboro is the no. 4 seed from the 7-2A conference. A victory in the first round of the regional tournament assures that team of one of the region's four transfer spots to next week's state tournament. The Class 2A baseball and softball state tournaments are scheduled to be played at Greenland, which is south of the Fayetteville area in Northwest Arkansas. ...