CONWAY -- Following a legend isn't exactly the easiest thing to do in any sport, but the blueprint for success that Noel Boucher left when he retired in 2020 as Conway's head baseball coach wasn't difficult to understand. Actually, Leighton Hardin didn't expect much to change when he took over the program.
Two years into his reign, he's got the Wampus Cats exactly where he envisioned they'd be.
"Coach Boucher was the only coach here for 35-36 years, and once he left, it was kind of like where's the program going to go from here," said Hardin, whose team is set to take on Bentonville today in the Class 6A state final at 4 p.m. inside the Everett Baseball Field at the Benton Athletic Complex. "I think this just shows the stability of what he left behind. The kids are still working, everything is still the same at Conway as far as tradition goes. That's good for the community, and it's good for the kids to see because we're still going to be able to do the same things that have always been done here."
Hardin has some huge shoes to fill considering everything Boucher did during his 35 seasons with the team. He led the Wampus Cats to the state tournament 29 consecutive times, won more than 70% of his games, brought home 17 conference titles, made 15 semifinal appearances and captured 2 state championships. His teams also never experienced a losing season.
But Hardin has gotten off to a very good start as Boucher's successor. The 37-year-old, who spent five seasons as the head coach at Hot Springs Lakeside before coming to Conway, is 41-19 over the past couple of seasons and has the Wampus Cats (18-9) back in the title game for the first time since 2018.
With what Conway had coming back from a year ago, the prospects of having a banner year were promising -- at first.
"We graduated four seniors who started, and we were starting a junior, three sophomores and a freshman," Hardin said of his 2021 team. "So we were young last year, but we were bringing back what we thought was a lot. Well, three of those kids that started ended up getting hurt. After that happened, it's like we had a whole new group. Guys that we thought were going to be experienced coming back aren't back.
"But the resiliency of this team has been big because it was rough there early when we lost those three guys. And then we had a fourth one go down towards the end of the year."
Conway, despite being powered offensively by lead-off hitter Logan French, has leaned on its pitching and defense to navigate through.
Senior hurler Austin Rainey has started almost every 6A-Central Conference game for the No. 2-seeded Wampus Cats, with junior Hugh Hill also seeing extensive action on the mound. Hardin also noted that his entire infield, led by sophomores Conner Cunningham and Tucker Satterfield and junior Sam Gregg, has come up with numerous big plays throughout the course of the year.
"We knew we going to be young and scoring runs for us was going to be at a premium," Hardin said. "So we just had to find a way to keep the other teams from scoring in order to stay in games. And then those young guys got that experience through the year and started putting together better at-bats. We hit it a lot better last weekend, too."
"But we knew we had to pitch well and play good defense to give ourselves a chance to win."
According to Hardin, his team must institute that same formula if they're going to knock off a red-hot Bentonville team.
The Tigers (23-10), who were the No. 4 seed from the 6A-West, are in the final after beating three straight higher-seeded teams. Bentonville used a seventh-inning rally to advance past Springdale Har-Ber, last year's runner-up, in the semifinals.
"They're a big, physical team," Hardin said of the Tigers. "They're senior-led and have a lot of experience coming in. Because of that, the moment is probably not going to get to them as much. They've been there, done that and have played together for a long time.
"And right now, they're gelling at the right time. So we know it's going to be a battle."
Hardin, however, believes Conway's path to a championship is already mapped out. It's also one that he knows Boucher, as well as any other coach that's bringing a team to Benton this weekend, would agree with, too.
"If Bentonville doesn't score a run, I feel really good about it," he said with a laugh. "Of course, it's easier said than done because those guys are pretty good. But if that happens, I like our chances."
Leighton Hardin (The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmsusen)