By Kirk Stewart

The Arkansas Special Olympics summer games started Thursday, May 21 at Harding University in Searcy.The annual ceremony commences with the athletes entering the stadium while fans, friends and family cheer showing their support and inspiration.

The ceremony also includes over 300 motorcyclists who rev their engines in a deafening roar -- a sound that has become a standard practice in the start of the games. The athletes respond with loud cheers and smiles that light up all of White County. There is a wide variety of events from different areas including athletics, aquatics, bocce, power lifting, softball, and golf.

BAUXITE — On the verge of suffering a second consecutive loss on the same day, the Bryant Black Sox Junior American Legion team put together a five-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning then held on to forge a 7-5 victory over Little Rock Continental Express in pool play at the Benton Tournament held at Bauxite High School on Saturday.

With Sunday's games washed out by rain, the Sox were unable to play their third pool game to earn a shot at the championship round of the event. The Sox will return to action on Sunday, May 31, with a doubleheader rematch with Continental Express.

A two-out error opened the door for the Bryant rally. Landon Pickett and Evan Jobe had drawn walks to start the frame but two outs later, they had only advanced to second and third. After fouling off a 2-2 pitch to stay alive, Reese O'Rourke put the ball in play. The fly to right was mishandled and both runs scored to give the Sox a 4-3 lead.

Chris Joiner, who was 3-for-3 in the game, cracked a single to left to keep the inning going then Lucas Castleberry drove in a run with a single. And when the ball was misplayed in center, the Sox again had runners at second and third. Caleb Milam followed with a bouncer that got past the Continental third baseman and both Joiner and Castleberry scored to put the Sox in front 7-3.

By Rob Patrick

BAUXITE — The sweet spot is an elusive thing on a wooden bat, especially when you're used to hitting with a more forgiving metal one.

Couple the adjustments needed in the transition with some effective pitching and you've got a low scoring, edge-of-your-seat ball game like the one the Bryant Black Sox Junior American Legion team played against the Hot Springs Trojans AA squad at Bauxite High School on Saturday afternoon.

It was the first game of pool play for both teams in a wood bat tournament, hosted by the Benton Legion team, at Miners Field. Bryant was scheduled to play again Saturday evening against Little Rock Continental Express then wrap up pool play on Sunday against Sheridan.

Through five innings, Bryant's Matt Neal and Hot Springs' Andrew Love both had no-hitters going. Both had their share of easy groundouts off those old-fashioned bats but they'd fired plenty of pitches past those bats as well. Neal fanned seven, Love six. 

Both had given way to teammates, however, when the game was decided. In the bottom of the eight, Love himself blooped a two-out single down the right-field line to drive in Jonathan Hall to give Hot Springs a 2-1 victory.

SEARCY — BryantDaily.com has received word from a reliable source that Josh Garland of Bryant (who was featured by Kirk Stewart here: http://bryantdaily.com/post/Special-Olympics-Power-Lifting-competition-held.aspx#continue) won three gold medals Friday at the State Special Olympics meet in Searcy. The performances came in the dead lift, the bench press and combination.

If anyone else has news of Bryant athletes at the State event, please comment on this entry or send an email to rob@bryantdaily.com or kirk@bryantdaily.com. 

NORTH LITTLE ROCK - Pulaski Technical College is accepting applications for Arkansas Teen College, a summer enrichment program for teens ages 12-18.Students can choose from 16 classes that will be offered, including drawing, poetry writing, 3-D computer programming, photography, fiction writing, American Sign Language, Spanish, painting, stained glass, acting, sculpting, jazz music, history of rock and jazz, and stagecraft.

All classes are taught by college instructors, so students receive a taste of college while they are still in high school, middle school or junior high.The first session will be July 6-9, and the second session is set for July 13-16.

Classes will be held 8 a.m.-noon on Pulaski Tech's main campus in North Little Rock.The cost is $75 per session.More information and applications are available online at www.pulaskitech.edu/arkansas_teen_college or by contacting Allen Loibner at (501) 912-7272 or e-mail atc@pulaskitech.edu.

Pulaski Technical College is a comprehensive, two-year college that serves the educational needs of central Arkansas through more than 80 occupational/technical degree and certificate programs, a university-transfer curriculum and specialized programs for business and industry.

Improved execution, renewed effort and intensity, enthusiasm and, for the most part, a healthy team — and everybody got into the act — were enough to make Paul Calley a happy head football coach as spring football work in pads came to a conclusion with a lively, competitive scrimmage on Friday afternoon.

"It went well," Calley declared. "We scrimmaged five different groups on offense and four different groups on defense, and I thought the execution and effort on both sides of the ball was tremendous.

"From Monday, which was dominated by mistakes and lackluster effort, to today, four days later, is hard to imagine," he stated. "It was that kind of transformation. It was a very productive day on both sides of the ball. I feel like we have established a pretty good idea of who our starters are going to be and our top backups."

By Rob Patrick

The Bryant Black Sox Senior American Legion team just needed something positive to happen Friday night when they took on the North Little Rock Colts. Just getting back on the field again was pretty good to begin with after the unfortunate events that ended their previous game at Lakeside.

And, behind the four-hit pitching of Trent Daniel and Tyler Sawyer, they notched a victory to boot, 6-2.

It was North Little Rock's first game of the season after rainouts had dogged them. The Colts figure to be there in the end but five errors haunted them against the Sox.

"Not many games are that big in May, to where it's almost a must win," commented Sox manager Craig Harrison. "But this week, we really wanted to win tonight. I mean, really wanted to win tonight. We played a quality team. You could tell it's early. They made a lot of mistakes and we capitalized on them and their two runs scored on mistakes we made."

Seven of the eight runs scored between the two teams were unearned.

NORTH LITTLE ROCK — New student registration for summer classes at Pulaski Technical College will take place May 26-28.

Registration will be open 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. daily on the third floor of the Campus Center (Room 305) on the college’s Main campus at 3000 West Scenic Drive.

Summer I term classes run June 1-25. The eight-week Summer Extended term, which includes evening and online classes only, also begins June 1.

Registration for the Summer II term will take place June 29-30, and those classes will run July 1-29.

There will be a Summer Youth Soccer League 3-v-3 and 4-v-4 that will begin June 8 and run through June 25. Teams will play two games per week on Monday and Thursday beginning at 5:30 each evening. Individuals wanting to register need to fill out a form and mail it in by May 24.

Officials will try to make sure everyone has a team.

The Bryant Soccer Club offers Recreational and Classic soccer programs for girls and boys. Recreational programs range in ages from 4 to 18. Classic programs vary based upon interest in each specific age group.

For more information call 501-519-8009, e-mail bryantsoccer@sbcglobal.net or visit BryantSoccer.org.