The picturesque setting of Heber Springs nestled along the shores of Greers Ferry Lake became the backdrop for Farmington’s 2011 drive for a state softball championship.
Strategic Planning
In many ways, the progress at Heber Springs a decade ago parallels developments at Farmington within the last five years.
During a timetable from 2007-2011, Heber Springs experienced strategic planning and growth similar to what Farmington has accomplished in recent years from the opening of a new competitive basketball gym, the ultra-chic 1,800 seat Cardinal Arena Jan. 16, 2015, along with the adjacent Performing Arts Center, to a new high school in 2017, and completion of the state-of-the-art $16 million Farmington Sports Complex highlighted by the 3,700 seat Cardinal Stadium in August not to mention the city’s ballfields on Southwinds Road and improvements to Creekside Park.
Golf Success
The previous fall Heber Springs captured the girls Class 4A Golf state championship held at Thunder Bayou in Blytheville Sept. 28-29, 2010, by three strokes over State Runner-Up Valleyview (255-258). Likewise, Farmington’s boys' golf team coached by Randy Osnes might very well get such an opportunity to compete for a state team title this fall.
Community Support
With overwhelming community support, Heber Springs expanded its appeal beyond world-class trout fishing and access to beautiful Greers Ferry Lake with completion of a brand new sports complex opened two months prior to winning a bid from the Arkansas Activities Association to host the Class 4A State softball tournament May 13-16, 2011. Heber Springs also played host to the Class 4A State basketball tournament March 1-5, 2011, as well as a softball regional tournament May 6-9, 2011.
Construction of the sports complex along with a community aquatics and conference center became possible through the passage of a 1-cent tax to fund the project in April 2007. Construction officially got underway in Sept. 2008.
Steve Janski, who was then Heber Springs athletic director, gushed over new facilities while describing excitement over the new prospect of drawing tourism and business into the community. Janski called the new high school gymnasium first-class, state-of-the-art and top-notch and expressed appreciation for the new city sports complex and allowing Heber Springs High School use of the multi-million dollar park — tailor-made to host tournaments.
Effective Superintendent
Russell Hester served as Heber Springs superintendent of schools in 2011. He capitalized on an allotted three minutes to pitch pertinent information in front of a packed house before the AAA Board of Directors influencing their decision in awarding the 2011 Class 4A State basketball and softball tournaments to Heber Springs.
Hester, a former basketball coach, knew a lot of the people on the board and operated effectively in tight quarters.
“He is academic first but is sports-minded and knows what bringing tournaments to Heber Springs can do for our school district,” Janski stated in Lake Lifestyle Spring 2011.
Not that different from outgoing Farmington superintendent Bryan Law, a former football coach, who spearheaded along with recently-retired athletic director Brad Blew, much of the strategic planning locally.
“You’ve left this place better than you found it,” Law was told by school board members during a May 18 meeting.
Heber Springs of 2011 sounds a lot like Farmington of the present, which hosted the 2020 Class 4A State basketball tournament at Cardinal Arena; but in 2011 Farmington appeared on the state tournament scene as a guest star, showing up as a No. 1 seed out of the 4A North Regional with a first-round bye.
Softball Battle
When the Lady Cardinals did take the field on Saturday, May 14, 2011, in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A State Softball Tournament, they found themselves in a battle with No. 3 South De Queen, which knocked off Valley View, 9-6, in the first round.
Farmington pitcher Madison Barnes (27-3) went the distance in the chalked circle. The junior gave up 5 runs, but got the most important statistic in coming away with the win.
Her teammates provided hits at critical junctures. De Queen punched through the first run but Samantha Combs answered with a solo home run to even the score at 1-1 in the bottom half of the second inning.
Sophomore third baseman Peyton Wiedner also homered and senior catcher Kelsie Stewart banged out a 2 RBI triple.
When it was all over Farmington slipped past De Queen by a 6-5 margin on a Saturday afternoon at Heber Springs.
Outfielder Jayme Doss, now Jayme Kutter, then a senior, recalled special moments from the season during a recent phone interview.
“During our season we hosted the Farmington-Fayetteville Tournament. Every year I had been there we always lost in the finals to Fayetteville. On Saturday we were in the loser’s bracket. We played eight-or-nine games. We were running off one field, getting to the bus and running onto another field,” Kutter said.
The two-day tournament alternated between Fayetteville’s Asbell Park and Lady Cardinal Field and the Lady Cardinals found themselves going back-and-forth.
“We finally did it, dramatically by losing first, then having to win all those games in the loser’s bracket to come back and win. We beat Fayetteville in the championship,” Kutter said. “It ended around midnight. We played all day nonstop.”
That experience prepared them for an eventual, unanticipated mental challenge in the state finals which wound up going into a second day after an overnight weather delay which will be reviewed in detail in the coming weeks as one of the top Sports Stories of the Decade: 2010-2019.
The 2011 Lady Cardinals recorded a 6-0 semifinal win over 2010 state champion Nashville on May 16 followed by a two-day state finals (May 21-22, 2011) 7-5 victory over Ashdown with all but the last outplayed on Friday.
Footnote
Farmington returned to Heber Springs on a very cold night later that same year and upset the previously unbeaten hometown Panthers coached by Janski, who came in 11-0. The Cardinals led by coach Mike Adams and seniors Deon Clay, Jared Martin, Clinton Ledbetter, Todd Broyles, Andrew Giezentanner, and Jacob Naylor along with juniors Spencer Boudrey, Brennan Warren, Matt Brackett, Colton Shadrick, Chase Garner, and Colton Wilbanks prevailed, 28-12. Adams utilized the late Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry’s Flex Defense to shut down the Panthers’ running game in the second round of the Class 4A State football playoffs on Nov. 18, 2011, making the long drive back to northwest Arkansas a lot more pleasant and generating excitement about the next round.
The 2011 Farmington softball and football seasons will live a long time in the memories of the Cardinals.
“There was a lot of support we had from the town and from the community. It was surreal,” Kutter said. “I’m really grateful because of playing softball on that team and especially that year. We had a special group of players … Those are some of the best memories I have. It was such a privilege to play for Coach Osnes and be a part of the tradition that’s so entrenched at Farmington.”