Submitted by Ike Futch
Spearsville Louisiana
May 26, 1952
Last March when the Spearsville High School baseball players began loosening up their arms, swinging bats and taking their laps, not a single player would have thought they would win the state championship, but with a few potential hitters, some good pitching and lots of hustle they started improving. The result: state and district Class B championships.
In the first game of the season they suffered a set-back by Marion, another of Union Parish’s better teams, 6-5. Shaking off this loss they rallied a winning streak notching eight wins of their next 10 games, losing only to Bernice and Dubach.
Spearsville made a valiant try to win a first place trophy at the Linville tournament, defeating Holly Ridge and Marion and losing a slugfest with Farmerville in the finals 12-8.
Being unsuccessful in the Bernice Tournament, losing out in the semi-finals, they entered the district rally at Ruston.
The Spearsville boys made good their debut in Ruston by annexing the big trophy. In the Initial game they blanked Forst, 6-0, behind no-hit pitching of Bobby Griffon. The same day they beat Calhoun, 6-2, with Griffon going the distance and Elkins supplying the power. Elkins poled a 390-foot homer over the center field wall. In the semi-finals Spearsville beat the strong Bernice team 4-3. Spearsville went ahead to win the finals, defeating Delhi 7-1.
After taking district honors, the business men and citizens of Spearsville helped the school send the team to Baton Rouge to compete for state honors.
In Baton Rouge the champs edged Chatham, 3-2, the first game and blasted Jefferson, 17-1, the second game. Highlights of this game were at home run and triple off the bat of Winford (Wimp) Smith and Terry Futch’s home run over the right field fence.
In the quarter-finals it was a pitcher’s battle between Spearsville’s Bobby Elkins and Philip Reeves of Bernice. With the score tied, 2-2, thanks to the bat of Ervin Tucker, who scored the first run and knocked in the tying one, wildness plagued the Bernice left-handed and he loaded the sacks with no-body out. Ferguson came on in relief, and Griffon drilled the first pitch though the mound as Taylor came in with the winning run with the bases still loaded and nobody out.
Spearsville disposed of Arabi in the semi-finals, 6-3.
In the finals Spearsville met Franklin, a highly rated team that beat LaSalle to gain their finals berth, and defeated them 16-2.
The team’s record for the year is 22 wins and 6 losses, finishing the season with a nine-game winning streak.
The records are: Fred Futch 4-3, Elkins 11-3 and Griffon 7-0.
Batting records are:
| AB | H | AVE | |
| Griffon | 99 | 33 | .333 |
| Fred Futch | 89 | 31 | .348 |
| Elkins | 84 | 40 | .476 |
| Tucker | 70 | 23 | .329 |
| Smith | 85 | 36 | .435 |
| Hollis | 78 | 19 | .244 |
| Risinger | 79 | 18 | .228 |
| Terry Futch | 85 | 19 | .224 |
| Barrett | 41 | 5 | .122 |
| Taylor | 13 | 2 | .154 |
| Manning | 10 | 1 | .053 |
| Barron | 14 | 5 | .357 |
| Team | 758 | 232 | .306 |
Shiloh to Canaan 