It has been a decade since an Arkansas high school softball season was completed with neither Sheridan nor Benton winning a state championship.
That trend is guaranteed to continue this year as the Lady Jackets and Lady Panthers will meet in the Class 5A state championship game at 4 p.m. Thursday at Shock Stadium on the University of Central Arkansas campus in Conway. The game will air on Arkansas PBS.
Sheridan (23-6) is the reigning Class 5A state champion after knocking off Beebe 5-0 in last season’s finals. It was the Lady Jackets’ first state title since winning four straight between 2016 and 2019. No champion was crowned in 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic.
Head coach Scott Hoffman said this year’s run to the finals feels different than last year’s.
“Last year, we were the No. 1 team in the state overall,” Hoffman said. “We were the best team, so it was this tremendous pressure that we had to win. I had to get it done for those kids, because I knew what I had.
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“This year’s been different. We started the season No. 1, and we’ve lost two seniors to injury. Every one of my seniors, all six, have had to overcome major medical issues from lupus to cysts in the brain. … So, to overcome all that, these tough ball games, it’s not a tough ball game. They have a tough life.”
Hoffman also said one senior’s mother is currently battling cancer.
Benton (31-2) won three straight titles between 2021 and 2023 before Sheridan’s win last year, making 2015 the last time state champions were crowned without Sheridan or Benton winning a title. The Lady Panthers also won in 2014.
This will be the first time the two have met in the finals since Sheridan won 6-0 in the 2016 Class 6A finals. The Lady Jackets went on to beat Benton in the semifinals the next two seasons, with the 2018 semifinal being their most recent playoff matchup.
The two met once this regular season, a 5-3 Panther victory in Benton on April 21.
“We made two errors in the first inning,” Hoffman said. “Got down 4-0 and lost the game 5-3. It was one inning getting us beat. We’ve corrected that. I think now we’ve given up 7 total runs in the last 9 games. So, the pitchers are playing great. We’re playing great defense, figured some things out. Kids are playing confident.”
Sheridan entered this year’s state tournament as the 5A-South Conference champion. The Lady Jackets run-ruled Searcy 10-0 in six innings before slipping past Vilonia 2-1 and blanking Beebe 3-0.
Benton had been a conference rival of Sheridan’s before moving to the 5A-Central this year. The Lady Panthers won that conference, then reached the finals by beating Mountain Home 2-0, White Hall 15-0 in three innings and Maumelle 5-2, all on their home field.
Hoffman said the Lady Jackets must play as well as they did in the semifinals against Beebe to beat Benton and win a second straight title.
“Incredible team, incredible team speed,” Hoffman said. “That’s the thing. You have to pitch well, and you have to play clean, because if you kick the ball once or twice, they’ve got you. So, we gotta perform on defense and pitching like we have. We’ve given up 1 run in the state tournament. We gotta have that in Conway if we’re going to have a chance.”