By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
The Beebe Junior American Legion team had a rough and messy outing at Conway on Wednesday. The O’Reilly’s Auto Parts team lost the opening game of the drenched doubleheader by the final score of 5-1, and dropped the nightcap 9-0.
Beebe scored the first run of game one. Alec Matlock walked to lead off the top of the second inning. He then stole second and third base and teammate Chase Underwood walked the following at-bat, and stole second base to put both runners in scoring position.
Ty Searcy, the team’s nine-hole hitter, got a timely hit as he drove in Matlock with an RBI single to give the O’Reilly’s team an early 1-0 lead.
However, the Beebe bats went quiet after that, and Conway was able to tie the score in the bottom of the second with a run scored, and the host team added its final four runs in the third to set the final score of the first game.
“We had maybe 11 guys show up and we were trying to save arms because we’ve had a bunch of games,” said Beebe assistant coach Tyler Burge. “We went through pitchers pretty quick, but the conditions were really bad. We had guys trying to steal bases and slipping up.
“(Conway) hit the ball; we just couldn’t make the plays. We fumbled the ball around or kicked it around. We threw a couple of balls away, pulling our first baseman off the bag to where he couldn’t tag the runner. So it was just little mistakes like that.
“We didn’t hit the ball well at all, but I think we’ve learned from that loss and what we need to do from that.”
Conway’s pitching stymied the O’Reilly’s team in game two, and the host team wasted little time piling on the runs to build a comfortable lead early.
Conway scored eight of its nine runs scored in the first inning, and scored the final run of the game in the third.
Beebe was able to put the bat on the ball, totaling six hits in the second game, but the O’Reilly’s squad could never get the timely hit to get a run on the board.
“We put the ball in play, we just hit it right at them,” Burge said. “They were able to make the plays in the conditions we were in, and it didn’t turn out as well for us in those same conditions. They hit the ball well; we just couldn’t get the job done.”
Tyler Woodall and Matlock led O’Reilly’s with two hits apiece in game one. Dawson Burge was the only Beebe player with multiple hits in game two. He also had two.
Beebe played the Cabot White Junior American Legion team in a doubleheader last night at Searcy after deadlines, and is scheduled to play again at Searcy on Tuesday against the host city. The first game of that doubleheader is scheduled to start at 6 p.m., and the second game will follow at 8 p.m.