Coaching Legends Osnes And Tice Trade Digs

Tommy Tice had a problem and, like any coach worth his salt, the 2017 inductee into the Arkansas High School Coaches Hall of Fame, knew where to go.

His granddaughter, Harrison freshman second baseman Katelyn Fleming, had just smacked a solo home run out of Farmington's Lady Cardinal Field, reducing the home team's lead to 6-1 in the fifth inning Thursday.

Fleming wanted the softball as memento, but the Lady Cardinals weren't inclined to grant her request. They may have given up a home run, but handing over the ball, that was a different story.

From their point of view the request represented an unwanted distraction. Conference seeding for the upcoming district tournament as well as an inside track toward winning a regular season 4A-1 Conference softball championship was on the line.

Too much was at stake to get involved in a discussion over the matter, so the underclassmen Lady Cardinals sent to retrieve the softball simply said "No" and returned to the dugout.

As the action continued, Harrison got a pair of runners into scoring position in the top of the sixth using a hit and an error to threaten with two outs before Farmington starter Carson Griggs struck out Kaylee Wolfe, swinging on a 2-2 pitch to ease out of the inning hanging onto the 6-1 lead.

Three home runs were hit in the game, and two belonged to Farmington senior shortstop Shayley Treat, who went yard in the bottom of the sixth driving in two of her six RBIs on the day. Treat earlier smashed a grand slam in the fourth to establish a 6-0 Farmington lead on the heels of Drew Clifford's RBI double off the wall. Kamryn Uher gave the Lady Cardinals a 1-0 lead in the second inning with a single into right center.

Harrison had one last chance in the top of the seventh. Alexis Norris led off with a triple that bounced off both walls deep in the left corner and scored on Kayton Bell's groundout to make the score 8-2.

Fleming came up again and hit a line drive into the glove of Farmington third baseman Justine Davidson. Claire Cecil recorded an infield single bringing Daizie Riggs up with two outs and a runner at first, but Carson Griggs got a ground out to lock in an 8-2 victory that left Farmington (17-2, 5-0) in sole possession of first place in the 4A-1 softball standings while Harrison (13-7, 5-1) dropped into second place.

Days before the game Tice jokingly texted Farmington coach Randy Osnes with a message, "Take it easy on the second baseman."

Their relationship goes back to the first time Farmington played at Harrison in football when former Farmington head football coach Bryan Law introduced them.

Tice retired after the 2015 season as No. 3 on the All-time list with 289 wins and 160 losses and six ties coaching high school football in Arkansas. Tice won the Class 4A State Championship in 1999 when the Goblins went 14-0 and defeated Alma, 10-7, in the title game.

Osnes' career softball record stands at 586-156 as of Monday, April 19. He's guided Farmington to 21 conference championships, 13 Regional championships and 23 state tournament appearances winning state crowns in 2000, 2005 and 2011 while finishing as state runner-up five times.

"Tommy and I just hit it off because I had an older daughter and Tommy had some daughters and he was trying to give me some fatherly advice on how to deal with daughters," Osnes said.

Tice's advice was, "Don't run off the point guards or the quarterbacks because those are normally pretty good ol' dudes."

Osnes incorporated Tice's input into the Lady Cardinal softball program.

"It's kind of funny because I tell my kids every year those things that Tommy was telling me," Osnes said.

After retiring from Harrison with the most football wins of any active coach following the 2010 season, Tice tried to resurrect Huntsville's gridiron program and became athletic director in his hometown.

He once came up to Osnes after a softball game played at Huntsville jokingly telling Osnes, who by then had established a dominant program, "That's the longest postgame speech I've ever seen."

Osnes compares Tice to retired Farmington Hall of Fame football coach Allan Holland.

"You can just tell that both care a lot about the folks that they coach, and when they develop a relationship with people it's real," Osnes said.

But when Tice approached Osnes in the aftermath of Thursday's intense softball game, the Lady Cardinal coach was surprised because he expected Tice to be watching another grandchild compete in pole vault at Bentonville West.

That event got done early so Tice made his way over to Farmington to support Fleming and the Lady Goblins.

Tice also had a request, "By the way, can we have that home run ball that my granddaughter hit? Your kids won't let her have it."

Never one to miss a pun, Osnes responded, exercising his own unique brand of humor to needle Tice, "The little monsters, I can't believe that?" Osnes said before assuring Tice, "Yeah, we'll get you a home run ball."

As dust settled on Lady Cardinal Field sportsmanship, enhanced by a keen sense of mutual respect and brotherhood in the coaching fraternity, ruled the day.

MARK HUMPHREY IS A SPORTS WRITER FOR THE ENTERPRISE-LEADER. THE OPINIONS ARE HIS OWN.