by Rob on May 6, 2009 at 11:10 AM CABOT — In a strong, deep conference for track, the Bryant Hornets stood fourth after the first day of competition at the 7A-Central track and field championship meet on Tuesday, May 5.With 49 points, Conway appeared poised to run away with the team title. Cabot was second with 34 points and Russellville third with 21. The Hornets finished the day with 16 points and were working to turn in their best times and get as many qualified for the Class 7A State meet as possible.To that end, the Hornets’ 4x800 meter relay team of Colton Klaus, Tyler Freshour, Brandon Mueller and Michael Smith turned in a season-best time of 8:37 to place fourth. Also scoring for the Hornets were Troy Smith in the high jump (4th in 5' 8"); Tanner Tolbert in the triple jump (5th in 41' 11"); and Jordan Murdock in the shot put (7th in 40' 9").
by Rob on Apr 24, 2009 at 9:32 AM  CABOT — After battling for 100 minutes (regulation plus two overtimes) to a scoreless tie, the Bryant Hornets and the Cabot Panthers went to an old-fashioned shootout to decide their final regular-season contest. Cabot hit four goals to Bryant's three on penalty kicks and thus survived with a 1-0 win in a game that was a bittersweet example of the Hornets' season in 2009. In girls action, the Lady Hornets tuned up for State with a 1-0 win over Cabot's Lady Panthers improving to 12-8 overall and 6-8 in the league. They'll be the No. 5 seed from the 7A-Central Conference, opening State on Friday, May 1, at 1 p.m. against the fourth seed from the 7A-West back at Cabot. "I was able to rest most of my starters for more than half the game," noted Lady Hornets coach Doug Maxwell. The lone goal was a header by Haley Montgomery off a corner from Maggie Hart. The Hornets' contest proved to be a gut-check with one defender out of action to start the game and a starting wing lost in the first few minutes due to injury.
by Rob on Apr 22, 2009 at 9:48 AM  BRYANT, Ark. — Everything was going so well.
The pre-game ceremonies to honor seniors Sarah Hart, Christen Kirchner and Paige Turpin had been a success. And the Lady Hornets had started the game with a four-run burst that included a three-run homer by Kirchner. And the Lady Hornets got to make their archway of bats for her after she circled the bases. In fact, they got to do it twice more in the third when Kirchner and Jenkins blasted back-to-back round-trippers to make it 6-2. But the Cabot Lady Panthers spoiled the fun, scoring three in the fourth and two in the fifth for a 7-6 victory that knocked the Lady Hornets out of sole possession of first place in the 7A-Central Conference. Bryant dropped to 16-7 overall and 8-2 in league play going into a showdown with defending State champion North Little Rock at Burns Park on Thursday with first place and a possible conference championship on the line. Bryant beat North Little Rock earlier in the season, 7-3, but the Lady Charging Wildcats were without star pitcher Jessica Shelton that night. The Lady Hornets also have games against Little Rock Central on Friday, April 24 and two against Van Buren on Tuesday, April 28, to play.
by Rob on Apr 21, 2009 at 11:58 PM 
By Rob Patrick BRYANT, Ark. — Junior center fielder Garrett Bock played as long as he could despite a painful hip that doctors had told him wouldn't get any worse if he played, as long as he could stand the pain. A chronic problem over the years, the hip will need surgery whenever it can be scheduled. Bock played his last game of the season on Saturday, April 18, at Sheridan.  On Monday, the starting designated hitter was a sophomore, Chris Joiner, who had earned the chance with his play during junior varsity games this season. Joiner went 1-for-3 in his varsity debut against Watson Chapel, a non-conference foe. His second start came on Tuesday in a league game against Cabot. Hopes for at least a share of the 7A-Central Conference championship were hanging in the balance for both teams. Bryant came in 8-4 in league play, atop the standings thanks to Cabot's 7-2 win over North Little Rock on Monday. The Panthers were only a game behind Bryant, North Little Rock (7-4) and Conway (7-4) in the loss column and, after knocking off the Charging Wildcats, had designs on pulling even with Bryant with a win. And, going into the bottom of the sixth inning, the Panthers held a 5-3 lead. Bryant, of course, has proven this season its never out of a game and this was no exception. In the home sixth, Brennan Bullock, who has shown a knack for starting comebacks, slapped a 3-2 pitch from Cabot starter Andrew Reynolds into right field for a base hit to get things started. An out later, Brady Butler looped a liner to right for a base hit. Reynolds got the second out, retiring hot-hitting Caleb Garrett on a pop to third. And that brought up Joiner in a key spot. If he could get on, the middle of the Hornets lineup, Hunter Mayall, Kaleb Jobe and Tyler Sawyer — all hitting over .400 this season — would be coming up with ducks on the pond. Reynolds got a couple of strikes in on Joiner who also took a couple of pitches off the plate. On a 2-2 delivery, Joiner just barely got a piece to stay alive. Ball three followed then he coolly took ball four. That proved to be the key at-bat in Bryant's come-from-behind 6-5 win which kept them in first place and a win away from at least a share of the league title and a first-round bye in the Class 7A State Tournament (whether seeded first or second). That one win will have to come in the conference finale at North Little Rock, a team Bryant lost to 11-4 earlier in the season. A loss and they could finish as low as third and miss out on the first round bye.
by Rob on Apr 17, 2009 at 10:55 AM CABOT, Ark. — Tanner Tolbert earned three medals at the Wal Mart Cabot Panter RelaysThursday night to lead Bryant to a 7th place finish out of 18 teams. The Hornets scored a total of 36 points. Tolbert won the triple jumpwith a 42' 2" effort and then placed second in the long jump with a leapof 21' 0". On the track, Tolbert placed 3rd in the 100 meter dash witha time of 11.46 seconds and joined Stanley Oxner, James Glasper, andChris Brooks in the 400 meter relay for a 6th place finish in a time of44.38. Other scorers for the Hornets were: Troy Smith in the high jump (8th place at 5' 7") Drew Persinger in the pole vault (5th place in 12' 6") 4 X 800m relay team of Colton Klaus, Tyler Freshour, Brandon Mueller,and Michael Smith (5th in 8:47)
by Rob on Apr 17, 2009 at 10:23 AM CABOT, Ark. — At the Cabot Panther Relays Thursday night, the Bryant Lady Hornets andthe Conway Lady Cats continued their duel for supremacy in the 7ACentral Conference. With three events remaining in the meet, Bryantheld a slim two-point lead. Conway then proceeded to score 34 points inthose final three events to secure the meet championship with 109points. The Lady Hornets took runner-up for the second straight meetwith 89 points. North Little Rock was third with 67 points. There were18 total teams in the meet.
by Rob on Apr 15, 2009 at 12:14 AM  BRYANT, Ark. — Bigger, faster, stronger, more experienced — after winning their first five games of the season, that's what the Bryant Hornets soccer team found when it entered play in the rugged 7A-Central Conference this year. And the story was the same on Tuesday, April 14, when they took on the Cabot Panthers. Rugged is also a pretty good description of how soccer is played in the 7A-Central Conference and Tuesday was no different. The Hornets, however, hoping to gain the inside track to clinching the league's sixth of six bids to the Class 7A State Tournament, battled through the adversity and played the Panthers evenly for two halves, one overtime and some of a second before losing yet another heartbreaker 1-0.
by Rob on Apr 14, 2009 at 10:52 PM  BRYANT, Ark. — There's nothing like controlling the ball on your offensive end to help your defense. The opponent can't win if it doesn't score and it can't score if it doesn't have the ball. That's been a formula for success in recent games for the Bryant Lady Hornets and it proved out on Tuesday, April 14, when they shut out the Cabot Lady Panthers, 2-0. It was the fourth straight shutout for Bryant including the three games in their run to the championship of the Northeast Arkansas Invitational in Jonesboro on Saturday. It's their seventh of the season as they've posted a 10-6 overall record. They're 4-5 in the 7A-Central Conference with three of their losses by one goal.
by Rob on Mar 20, 2009 at 12:09 AM 
By Rob Patrick CABOT — If only the Cabot Panthers had hit the ball a little harder early in the 7A-Central Conference game against the Bryant Hornets on Thursday, March 19. Andrew Reynolds had a solid single to center for the Panthers' first hit in the opening inning but beyond that, they weren't getting very good swings on Tyler Sawyer's pitches. But they made just enough contact to hit some slow rollers on the infield — balls that would've been routine grounders on a Little League-sized diamond — that the Hornet infielders had to charge time after time. Four of Cabot's first five hits didn't even make it beyond the infield grass. And, though they didn't produce anything on the scoreboard, they forced Sawyer to work longer innings and that, along with an unforeseen factor, wore on the Hornets' ace right-hander. Another of those plays resulted in a throwing error that extended the fifth inning in which Cabot tied the game 2-2. A pair of one-out walks in the sixth set up a decisive four-run uprising that included another error along the way. The 6-3 victory improved Cabot to 2-2 overall and 2-2 in the league. It was the first conference loss for the Hornets who dropped to 6-2 and 5-1, tied for the conference lead with North Little Rock and Little Rock Catholic (both 4-1) in the loss column. The game also served as the opening round contest in the Billy Bock Classic. The Hornets were set to play Star City at 4 p.m. on Friday in the consolation bracket at White Hall High School.
by Rob on Mar 19, 2009 at 10:05 PM  CABOT — Bryant Lady Hornets coach Lisa Stanfield shuffled her batting order for her team's game against the Cabot Lady Panthers on Thursday, March 19. The result was a big first inning which proved to be just enough as they claimed a 4-2 victory. Bryant, 4-3 overall and 3-1 in the 7A-Central Conference, came into the league game after suffering their first 7A-Central loss at home against Conway on Tuesday, March 17, 6-4 in eight innings. It wasn't until late in that game that the offense came to life so Stanfield was pleased with the good start against Cabot. "It's something that's been lacking," she acknowledged, "starting the game off hitting the ball and getting people on base. I put some of our more powerful hitters towards the top. We've still got some offensive things to straighten out but we're looking a lot better each game, on paper and during the game." The Lady Hornets pounded out five hits in that first inning, four of them for extra bases. But, after that, they only managed three singles, two of them by freshman Peyton Jenkins who had three hits on the day. Hot-hitting Cassidy Wilson started the game with a triple. Kayla Sory drove her in with a double. With one out, Christen Kirchner cracked a two-bagger to make it 2-0. With two way, Kim Wilson doubled and Jenkins singled her home for the 4-0 lead.
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