Fayetteville blanks Springdale

It took a while for Fayetteville to get to Springdale's pitcher, but it ended up blanking the Red Dogs, 10-0.

Most of the FHS softball games that I cover end with the Lady Dogs run-ruling their opponents and I struggle at times at coming up with a photo that I like. Fayetteville pitching is so dominant that there are rarely base runners and the appropriate photo from each game ends up being a photo of the Lady Bulldogs' pitcher.

That can get tiresome after a while.

Doubleheader

Arkansas designated-hitter Travis Sample slides in around the tag from Mississippi State catcher Scott DeLoach to score one of the Hogs' 4 runs in their 12-4 loss in the second game of a doubleheader Sunday at Baum Stadium.

Although the Hogs' lost the game, they took the series, 2-1, and are now 8-1 in the SEC. Covering two games with one photo is tricky and it seems wisest to stay away from any photo that might seem like a play of the game since there are, well, two games. Overall, the day was a win for Arkansas, which opens up with its best league start in school history.

Snowball

Justin Wells took over for Dallas Keuchel in the resumption of yesterday's game that was suspended by rain. This time, the snow fell for the first time since 1998 as the Hogs won, 20-9.

My toes are still sort of frozen.

Weird rule

Arkansas put the screws to Mississippi State early and often with three home runs and taking advantage of four Bulldog errors to go up 10-3 after 4 1/2. Rains began to fall suspending play, but normally this would be good news. However, the Southeastern Conference requires the completion of games suspended by rain before another game can be started. So instead of calling it a win for the UA and possibly getting two more games in, they have to finish the game through nine innings.

It's possible, with there being bad weather expected for Saturday, that we will only see the completion of this game and one seven-inning game as doubleheader of sorts on Sunday.

Rats.

The Big Red Dirt Farm

Billy Sweetser, owner of The Big Red Dirt Farm, right, and his business' attorney Charles Nestrud came before the Washington County Quorum Court to speak at an appeal by residents to the approval of the business' conditional use permit to operate a limestone quarry at soon-to-be-depleted red dirt farm for the next generation.

It's hard to sum up an event like this with one photo. We've given so much attention to the residents in this issue that I thought it was time we saw who Billy Sweetser is, even though it was the residents whose appeal set this meeting up in the first place.

Salmonella enteritidis

A very nice man from Russellville takes advantage of an equally nice day to get some fishing in after foul weather stymied plans with friends to camp over the weekend.

I awoke Sunday morning with food poisoning after spending the night sick and with a little help got to the lake and got what now seems like a lazy shot to fill the front page. At the time, it felt like I had climbed a mountain to get this.

Camp basketball

Prairie Grove's Julie Rutherford reaches for a rebound during the final day of the Arkansas Athletes Outreach Top 25 Camp.

Having to keep moving my strobes to keep up with the games at the All-Star Sports Arena was a real pain, but no more so than it was for the woman at the desk at the center who had to keep unlocking the door to the balcony where my strobe was. I should have bought her a Coke.

Year-round sport

Less than a week after winning a state championship, Fayetteville junior guard Taylor Cochran was participating in the Arkansas Athletes Outreach Top 25 Camp.

These kids never stop playing basketball these days.

At least the light was nice

After many of the Prairie Grove High School starters were benched because they were late to the team bus, the Elkins teed off on what was left of their pitching rotation and made it ugly quickly.

But isn't the light nice?

When left to my own devices

We needed another photograph to fill out the paper today and perhaps predictably so, I gravitated to baseball and a father and son hitting infield on a beautiful day.

Weird baseball moment

In a weird baseball moment, Arkansas pinch-hitter Jarrod McKinney swung through a ball in the dirt with two strikes trying to get on base with Arkansas and Florida tied, 2-2, in the eighth inning. The ball bounced off the catcher and was later kicked by McKinney as he ran to first base. In the confusion, a run scored from third and that run was allowed, by rule. This was an interpretation of the rules that the Florida coach disliked so much, he got ejected.

I just LOVE baseball. Better than baseball is getting a photo of the play of the game.

Unbelievable times two

The Fayetteville High School girls and boys basketball teams won the Class 7A state championships and remain undefeated on the season. That is unprecedented in the state of Arkansas and was truly a pleasure to witness.

Covering the games, as much as they were fun, was so difficult. My laptop is terribly slow (especially with the large files that my camera writes), the wireless Internet provided at the Summit Arena was clogged with sportswriters surfing, and since the games were back to back, I had to turn photos all at once which was exhausting with the early deadlines that we had.

Unreal

Farmington High's softball team hosted Fort Smith Southside, coached now by a Farmington alumna, in the final game of a weekend softball tournament.

To say that it's dark at Lady Cardinal Field is to say the very least. To come away from the game with an action photo that is printable makes me love my new camera even more than I did before; a notion I did not think possible.

Group shot

The Fayetteville High girls and boys basketball teams are preparing for their state championship games and leave for Hot Springs and Summit Arena.

Every time I walk into the auxiliary gym at the high school, I want to use these windows for a photograph. Taking a group photo of so many people is always tough, so I thought I'd do it this way and get to use those cool windows.

New-camera boy

Fayetteville High and Farmington squared off and though the Lady Cards became the first team to score on Fayetteville, the Lady Dogs won, 6-3.

Today was the first time to use my new camera and to shoot from behind the newly installed screen fence at the FHS softball field that allows me to shoot from the stands instead of from on the field. Not sure which was better.

Holy cow!

Arkansas senior Chase Leavitt went 4 for 5 today in the Hogs' 13-3 win over California and reached base in 14 of 17 at-bats over the weekend.

Thanks for playing.

Headed to the 'ship

Fayetteville High's girls and boys teams remain undefeated and are headed to their respective state championship games after beating Fort Smith Northside and Cabot respectively.

I ordered a Nikon D3 that should be in on Monday and am excited that I will get to use it for the championship games since I will probably have to shoot available light in Hot Springs.

And then there was light

The Fayetteville boys and girls blew out their second-round opponents in the Class 7A state tournament after receiving a first-round bye and pick up right where they left off today.

I got to the Stubblefield Center early and was able to hang strobes, making everything look good. I was really worried. The place reminded me of Johnny Cash's closet; dark.

Tourney time

Fayetteville High's boys and girls undefeated basketball teams begin state-tournament play today at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith and play Fort Smith Southside and Little Rock Central respectively.

I have to admit, I am dreading this if only because I am really uncertain if I am going to be able to light the UA-FS arena or if I am going to have to shoot available light. We try to use strobes in order to improve the quality of our images, but it looks like I'm going to have to grin and bear it.

And so it begins

Fayetteville High's already dominating pitcher Amanda Summerford has apparently spent time in the weight room during the off-season and added a few miles per hour to her pitches. She struck out 14 of 20 batters in a run-rule-shortened game with Prairie Grove.

We try to get photos that are in line with the story about the game. I imagine this will mean more than one more photo of Summerford pitching this season.

Remembering 1994

Nolan Richardson and the 1994 Arkansas basketball team was honored today before and during the Hogs' 89-67 win over Georgia.

There was a different feel to Bud Walton Arena, home to the now 2-12 Arkansas. The National Championship team showing up made it feel electric again. Relevant, maybe. Back then, it felt like this was the center of the college basketball world. And in some respects, it was.