In baseball, the West took an early 1-0 lead, aided by Rogers Heritage’s Hunter Wood’s strong pitching performance who threw three shutout innings, but it didn’t last. Although West pitchers only gave up six hits, they hit four batters, and the defense behind them committed three errors. All of which led to an eventual 4-1 victory by the East. Little Rock Catholic’s Taylor Wallace earned the win, while Greenwood’s Austin Suter took the loss.

Game two was a much closer game, albeit a lot sloppier. A total of eight errors were committed, three by the East and five by the West. The East took an early 5-0 lead after three innings, but seven runs by the West in the fourth-sixth innings erased that lead. However, the East avoided a split series by scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh on a error by the West’s Corey Scheide of Dover, forcing an extra inning. The game ended on a two-out RBI single by Little Rock Catholic’s Matt Morris, giving the East an 8-7 victory.

Softball provided more drama, as both games went eight innings. The two squads committed a total of six errors each between the two games, but the star of the series was Bryant’s Jessie Taylor, who hit a three-run home run in both games for the East. Her first came in the top of the eighth of game one, giving the East an 8-5 lead, which proved to be the final score.

Her second came in the bottom of the fourth of game two, closing the East’s deficit to just 9-7. The East completed their comeback by scoring on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh, evening the score at 10-10 and forcing another extra inning game. Buffalo Island Central’s Callie Brooks’ RBI single in the bottom of the eighth won the game 11-10 and clinched the sweep for East. Teraka Cowley of West Side Greers Ferry earned the victory in both games, while Hope’s Jami Godwin took the loss in game one and Malvern’s Lindsey Holyfield took the loss in game two.

The East and West boys basketball teams meet at halfcourt of Fayetteville's Bud Walton Arena before last year's all-star game. File photo.

All-Star week kicks off Monday at the University of Arkansas facilities in Fayetteville. The state’s top high school athletes – from every corner of the state – will face off in baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer, basketball and football, plus dance and cheer events. The schedule is as follows:

Monday – baseball and softball

Tuesday- soccer (girls and boys) and volleyball

Wednesday – basketball (girls and boys), plus cheer & dance events

Thursday- football, plus cheer & dance events

Sports Talk: The High School Show will be on-site taking pictures, talking to fans and writing articles on the week’s events. If you spot us wearing our High School Show t-shirts, come talk to us, and we’ll give you a free t-shirt. If we spot you wearing a High School Show t-shirt, we’ll give you a free $10 gift card to Slim Chickens. We’ll be there each night of the week, so keep an eye out for us, and make sure you get the most out of the all-star games by

Springdale and Southside, both pictured, will likely be able to use freshmen in football and all other sports beginning this fall. File photo.

It’s almost as if the 7A is playing catch-up to the 6A.

A few weeks after we learned that the 7A will likely certify all 16 teams into the football playoffs beginning this fall (like 6A already does), a Northwest Arkansas Times report suggests that freshmen may soon be allowed to compete in every 7A varsity sport.  Until now, freshmen were not allowed to compete in football, basketball, volleyball, cross country or track; all are sports offered in junior high.

Freshmen can play varsity in all other classifications.

The rule change will probably not have a big impact on varsity sports.  A 15-year-old ninth-grader is usually lucky to play on the junior varsity, let alone the varsity team, in the less-popular sports that aren’t offered at the junior high level.  Instead, the move is viewed as an effort to smooth the transition of mixing 7A and 6A teams.

The change has been recommended “do pass” by the Arkansas Activities Association board of directors, but it will not become official until it is ratified by the AAA August 1.

Summer Sports Kickoff Show

Summer Sports Kickoff Show

Meghan Vogel with her mother and coach, Ann Vogel. Image courtesy Facebook.

Meghan Vogel has been making national headlines, and she doesn’t know why.

“This is just completely overwhelming,” Vogel said, “but I’m getting used to it.”

After Vogel carried a fallen competitor across the finish line in her 3200 meter state final, she was featured on national websites and TV shows such as ESPN.com and Fox and Friends.

“People like an inspiring story, and I think this is kind of an inspiring story,” Vogel said.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Meghan Vogel

At Sports Talk: The High School Show, we don’t believe in chest bumps, back slaps or knuckles – only good, old-fashioned High Fives.  Here is this week’s High Five:

Rogers Heritage RHP Hunter Wood was chosen by the Boston Red Sox in the 32nd round of the MLB Draft.  Along with Jacksonville’s D’vone McClure, Wood was one of only two Arkansas high school baseball players to be drafted.  Wood, who signed to play baseball at Howard Junior College in Texas, will have until July 13 to sign with the Red Sox.

“[Getting drafted] is an awesome feeling,” Wood told the Northwest Arkansas Times.

Wood went 10-4 on the mound and struck out 127 batters in 72 2/3 innings in his senior season; he was also named to the all-state team for the third straight year.

According to a tweet from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Robert Yates, the AAA has decided to move the basketball state finals from the Hot Springs Convention Center to Little Rock’s Barton Coliseum beginning next year.

Barton Coliseum, home of the AAA state basketball finals in 2013. Image courtesy Wikipedia.org

After the elimination of the overall state tournament, Barton Coliseum hosted the first two state finals in 1993 and 1994.  Hosting duties for the finals were awarded to the Pine Bluff Convention Center in 1995, then North Little Rock’s Alltel Arena in 2004.  The finals have been played at the Hot Springs Convention Center since 2007.

The move back to Barton is a step backward for the state finals.

Barton Coliseum, which opened in 1952, was once the state-of-the-art home of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans basketball team and a couple of minor league basketball and hockey teams.  It even drew 1970s headliners such as the Jackson 5 and Blue Öyster Cult, according to its Wikipedia page.

Its recent history, however, is filled with monster truck rallies and Arkansas State Fair rodeo events.  And now, the AAA state basketball finals.

Barton Coliseum is a bad venue for players and fans alike; as recently as 2009, a AAA newsletter claimed that the arena was “best suited for rodeos rather than basketball.”  The same newsletter praises one of the other past venues, the Pine Bluff Convention Center, as being “near-perfect.”

Moving the basketball finals back to Little Rock is fine; putting them in a 60 year-old rodeo arena is not.

WHO HE IS: D’vone McClure, Jacksonville recent graduate

WHAT HE DID: First Arkansas high school athlete selected in the 2012 MLB Draft

D’vone McClure is a hard-hitting center fielder who just finished his senior season on the baseball diamond for the Jacksonville Red Devils; soon, he may be a Cleveland Indian.  The Indians selected McClure in the fourth round of the MLB amateur draft with the 143rd pick overall.  McClure, an Arkansas Razorback signee, hit .412 in his senior season, including 12 doubles, a home run and 28 runs scored.  According to the new MLB Draft signing bonus slotting system, McClure’s signing bonus could be valued at $314,700.

The junior from West Liberty-Salem (West Liberty, Ohio) High School has received national media attention after she helped Arden McMath, a fellow runner who collapsed during the Ohio Division III 3,200 meter finals, cross the finish line.

“It’s strange to have people telling me that this was such a powerful act of kindness and using words like ‘humanity,’” Vogel told ESPNHS.  ”I don’t consider myself a hero. I just did what I knew was right and what I was supposed to do.”

A full interview with Vogel will air on this week’s Friday Night Live radio show.