Conway hopes to finish off near perfect 2025 season with Class 6A state baseball title
BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON
It has been a dream season for Conway’s baseball team with the ultimate prize still in reach.
The 6A-Central top-seeded Wampus Cats (24-1, 15-1) will play Friday at 10 a.m. in the Class 6A state baseball tournament at Burns Park in Littler Rock.
They will face the winner of Thursday’s game between 6A-West fourth seed Rogers Heritage and 6A-Central fifth seed Little Rock Catholic.
Conway head coach Leighton Hardin notes that its been a fun ride, but there is still work to be done.
“It has been a really great season, a lot of fun, but what we really want is still there in front off us and we are going to have to play great to get it,” Hardin said. “We really to finish this off the right way.”
Conway does have a pair of junior headliners in Arkansas catching commit Max Holland and Southern Miss pledge Shaun Cover, but it’s been a group effort per Hardin.
“We have got some really competitive kids and they had a done a great job of finding ways to win,” Hardin said. “It’s also a pretty talented team and there are still young, we start a lot of juniors, but they have rally jelled together.
“They hear worked really hard together and want each other to succeed and I think that’s a big key to it, too. You don’t get that a lot anymore, but it is 25 guys who don’t care who gets the credit.”
Conway won its first 22 game before suffering its lone loss Cabot 6-5 on May 1.
“I’ve been here five years and played six games on that field and we have lost five of them,” Hardin said. “Coach (Ronnie) Goodwin does a great job with those guys and its a tough place to play.
“I was proud of our guys. We found a way of come back and tied it up in the seventh, but they ended up winning. But hey, if you are going to lose one, let’s lose one before we get there (the state tournament).
“It’s still not going to be easy. There are a lot of great teams in the state this year, but we will see what we can do.”
“I think a lot of it happened last year when we had such a young group and still found a way to win the conference,” Hardin said. “We had a lot of guys coming back…and this year, the senior class has stepped up again and done a really good job of leaving our guys.”
Conway, 6A-West top seed Rogers (24-4), and second seed Fayetteville (23-6) and 6A-Central second seed Little Rock Christian (20-7) all have byes.
But Hardin doesn’t limit the possible winner to that quartet of teams with byes.
“In the state tournament, I think baseball is the only place that a sixth seed can come out and end up winning a state championship,” Hardin said.
“…It’s day by day and everybody has a team that can beat you. If you take a game off or are not real to play, you could be home the next day and your season over.”
Photo courtesy of Conway Athletics
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