CONWAY - The Woodlawn Bears' 3-2 win over the Palestine-Wheatley Patriots in the Class 2A state championship game May 19 gave Woodlawn its ninth state baseball championship, moving it into a tie with Junction City for the secondmost state baseball titles among all high schools in Arkansas.
Woodlawn was tied with Sylvan Hills at eight before its victory over Palestine-Wheatley at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. Pine Bluff High School still holds the top spot in state baseball championships with 10.
The victory also marked the Bears' third consecutive state title, tying the "three-peat" it accomplished from 2016 to 2018. Woodlawn started its latest string with a 7-2 win over Bigelow in the 2022 championship game and a 5-2 victory in eight inning over off South Side-Bee Branch to win the 2021 title.
This was Woodlawn's seventh consecutive season to make the state finals taking into account that the 2020 high school baseball season was canceled due to the COVID pandemic.
The Bears have been to the state championship game 12 times in school history, all of those appearances coming since 2007. They are 9-3 in those games.
Woodlawn's state championships have come in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022. The Bears were state finalists in 2007, 2009 and 2019.
Richardson was informed about moving up to no. 2 in the state's all-time championship list after the win over the Patriots. Richardson has served as the coach for all nine championship teams at Woodlawn.
"I didn't know that," he said. "(Junction City) Coach (Joe) Hammett called me and told me good luck, and that this would tie us with Junction City. I'm like, that's wonderful. That's some elite company when you're tied with Junction City and Pine Bluff High." "It's big to be mentioned in the same breath as those guys," he said.
Richardson said the program has gotten to the point that each team passes on the expe...
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