Editor's Note: The following was posted to Facebook but is deserving for even wider local distribution.
For the past couple of years, I have been lucky enough to be a Gentry Pioneer. There have been some great moments over the last couple of years, but this past week has strengthened my belief that Gentry is a great place to call home.
There are a lot of reasons to be excited about what is to come of Gentry athletics, but none more apparent to me then what has gone on this past week. I know that the kids in all sports have been working hard all summer, but the kids that I have been fortunate to work with have made me extremely proud!
We started the week off with great workouts in football, and a 4-0 night at the 7-on-7 event in Siloam. The kids were back in the weight room the next day, ready to work and get better.
I received a phone call on Monday afternoon with a late request for us to host one of the four sites for the Mid-America Baseball Showcase round robin. With a busy schedule, I haven't been able to work as much on the baseball field as I would have liked, so it needed some work.
Well, the weather didn't exactly cooperate with us this week, so we were limited on the amount of days we could get out and work on the field. On short notice, we had several players and members of the community come out to help. I am extremely grateful for all the help, and there is no way that we could have done it without them.
We were out here on Friday for almost nine hours getting the field ready for this (past) weekend. We then turned around, and hosted five games Saturday, having to prep and maintain the fields all day. This showcase included premier teams from five different states. The other sites were Fayetteville High School, Baum Stadium and Rogers Heritage High School. Although the field wasn't as groomed as I would have liked, we received several compliments on how great our field looked, and how we were the only field in the showcase that prepped the fields as nice before every game. Not only that, but we also served a full concession stand because of the help from the Booster Club and several others.
To finish Saturday night, our Gentry senior Babe Ruth team filled a last minute vacancy to play the best team in the showcase. The team they played is a team that goes to the Premier World Series every year and usually wins it. This was a team that was made up of over 25 players that will probably all go on to play college baseball.
Our kids played hard and, although we didn't win, we received a compliment from the other coaches that we were one of the toughest teams that they had played all weekend. Our senior Babe Ruth team also just finished the state tournament and has secured a spot in the regional tournament this next weekend in Rogers.
I apologize if I have left anyone off of the below list, but I wanted to list a few things that went on. Thank you to Coach Shawn Haag, Carl Lemke, Joey Still, Robert Henderson and George Adkins for spending so many hours Friday to get the field cleaned and prepped. Also, a big thanks to Zach Adkins, Mac Adkins, Dusty Haag, C.J. Taylor, Sean Pierce, Billy Stewart and Sky Crowell for all of their work on Friday. All of these people, as well as many of our kids from the baseball team, were there throughout the day on Saturday to help prep the fields in between games.
Last, I want to say a huge thanks to the Gentry Athletics Booster Club for coming out Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning to get the concession stand ready. I am not sure what we would do without Rose Sumner and the rest of the Gentry Community. Thank you to Beth Fox, Leslie Haag, Alicia Ledbetter and their families who all came out to help with this. All of you are appreciated more than you could ever imagine.
Justin Ledbetter
Gentry
Sports on 07/15/2015