There had been a few texts, but Tuesday the official news release came, and Shane and Lara Pigue have bounced back from a trying time last year with a record number of teams set to compete in the 34th Wally Hall Tournament of Champions over Memorial Day weekend.
Yes, the tournament still carries my name, although it has been years since Shane called and asked whether he could restart the tournament that was founded to promote softball in Arkansas.
Shane and Lara added youth league baseball. It was a brilliant idea, and the winner is the Benton and Saline County economy.
More than 160 baseball teams and 40 softball teams will compete this year.
Almost a year ago, Shane and Lara's worlds were rocked days before the tournament when their home was raided by Benton police. Phones and computers were confiscated, and the world of the two good people, and their families, was turned upside down.
The Pigues were charged by the Benton police with three counts of false or fraudulent reports, two counts of failure to pay or file tax returns, three counts of criminal conspiracy and three counts of computer fraud.
That's 11 counts. Keep that in mind.
They, along with their longtime friend and bookkeeper, Kimberly McClendon -- who faced nine counts of various fraud -- were fingerprinted, photographed, and left stunned and embarrassed.
Benton had always meant friends, family and home to them.
The time-consuming investigation showed the Pigues had made a mistake of a little more than $400 on their 2014 state taxes.
That's the sum total of their wrongdoing.
They accepted a year's probation and went to work putting their lives and reputations back together, including organizing the largest participation event in the state.
Everett Buick GMC never wavered and remained the title sponsor for the tournament, and this year some team will receive a $3,000 sponsorship from the Everetts.
In the aftermath of the arrests many reached out to the Pigues, and some offered to host the tournament in their hometown.
The Pigues said no, they were sticking with Benton and Bryant.
Some work is being done on some of the fields in Benton so the softball tournament, a USSSA National Invitational event, will be played at Dupree Park in Jacksonville, but the plan is to move all games back to Saline County next year.
The softball tournament is wide open as Chris Walker and Fence Brokers Inc., the defending champs and the Class A World champions, are taking the year off.
For more information, go to ARsoftball.com.
Thanks to Shane, Lara and a host of others, hotels and restaurants in Benton and Bryant will be filled Memorial Day weekend.
. . .
It just keeps getting better for Christyn Williams, the sophomore basketball player from Central Arkansas Christian.
The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame has asked CAC for a jersey from Williams to hang in its ring of honor of future stars of the sport.
Of the tens of thousands of young ladies playing high school basketball, a little more than 100 were honored with the same request.
"She's a special young lady," said Mike Charles, who runs basketball camps in central Arkansas. "I don't just mean on the court either, although she is truly gifted. She's smart, polite and a strong believer in God. She is incredibly humble, too."
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's girls All-Arkansas Preps Sophomore of the Year is 5-11, can play every position on the court and is already being recruited by UConn, UALR, Arkansas and dozens of other major colleges.
Sports on 05/12/2016