By Jason Avery
News-Times Staff
EL DORADO - Three schools that are no stranger to playing deep in the month of May serve as the headliners for the 8-3A District Tournament.
Between Junction City, Smackover and Fordyce, the top three seeds for the tournament, there is no shortage of appearances in championship games.
The tournament gets underway today at Smackover with an abbreviated schedule.
With rain in the forecast for Saturday, the semifinals and championship game will all be held on Friday.
Today's quarterfinal contests will see No. 4 seed McGehee square off with No. 5 seed Drew Central at 4 p.m., while No. 3 seed Fordyce takes on sixth-seeded Lake Village at 6 p.m.
Smackover, the No. 2 seed, will face the Fordyce-Lake Village winner at noon on Friday.
Junction City, the No. 1 seed for the tournament, will take on the McGehee-Drew Central winner at 2:30 p.m.
The championship game will follow at 5 p.m.
Despite losing a plethora of seniors from their 2016 squad that finished as the 2A runner-ups, the Dragons enter the postseason with another 20-win season assured after topping Parkers Chapel in their regular season finale on Monday to improve to 20-9.
Despite having so many new faces, the Dragons more than held their own in the 3A-4A District 12, going 14-4 with only a home loss to Smackover serving as their lone blemish against 8-3A foes.
"We feel pretty good," said Junction City coach Joe Paul Hammett. "We finished the regular season with a good win against a good team. Over the next three days, we want to just try to stay sharp, keep our bats hot and our pitching where it is. We'll just take it one game at a time. When you get to the district tournament, it's a little different feel intensity-wise for everybody, so we can't overlook anybody with whoever we end up with. We've got to be ready to play."
The Bucks enter the postseason with a 15-13 record, but have played good baseball down the stretch having won seven of their last eight games to finish with a share of the 8-3A title with the Dragons.
Barring upsets, the Bucks would have to knock off both the Redbugs and Dragons to win the tournament, but Smackover has won three of the four meetings against their rivals, and they will have home-field advantage.
"One thing we're excited about is we get a second chance to get the top seed for the regional," said Smackover coach B.J. Greene. "We've got to be ready to play, and we're excited about it."