SHERWOOD - In some ways, the Arkadelphia Badgers were intimidated by the 7A-Central Conway Wampus Cats.

The two teams met in the opening round of the Central Arkansas Invitational Tournament at Sylvan Hills High School and Conway took a 12-0 win in four innings.

“I didn’t think we believed that we should be on the field with Conway in that first game,” Arkadelphia head baseball coach Brant Matros said. “We looked across the field and thought we weren’t going to beat them.“

Conway took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on two hits and two Arkadelphia errors. Eric Groom got on base with a base hit to left field in the bottom of the first inning with one out, but Conway turned a double-play to end the inning. 

A 3-run homer in the top of the second added to two more run-scoring errors by the Badgers as the Wampus Cats broke open the game with six more runs to go up 8-0. After Arkadelphia went down in order, Conway added another run in the top of the third to lead 9-0. 

Joe Rocole reached on an error in the bottom of the third inning, but was left stranded at second base for Arkadelphia. Conway added three more runs in the top of the third inning to lead 12-0.

Tanner Smith walked with one out in the bottom of the fourth, but his pinch runner Peyton Eddington was left stranded at first base to end the game. 

“I told them after the game, that these are high school baseball players,” Matros said. “Some of them are better than others, but if you believe you can play with anybody, you can go out and play with anybody.”