CAN’T ALL BE WINS | Kilgore baseball, softball drop home games to Carthage, Henderson

Rough nights don’t come along very often for the Kilgore Diamond ‘Dogs at historic Driller Park, but that’s exactly what Kilgore faced in a District 17-4A showdown against once-beaten Carthage (in district play) and standout right-handed pitcher Matthew Smith.

The Dawgs missed a couple of scoring opportunities early, but more than made up for it, coming away with a 12-0 victory over Kilgore on Tuesday evening.

Things weren’t any better for Kilgore High School just slightly up the hill at Stream-Flo Field, where Henderson came away with a run-ruled-shortened 17-0 win over the Lady Bulldogs in the 17-4A softball opener (see Mitch Lucas’ brief recap of that game below).

Carthage 12, Kilgore 0 (baseball): Kilgore came into the showdown having won three district games in a row and four of its last five, but that ended, dropping the home ‘Dogs to 3-1 against the district (11-4-1 overall), while Carthage improved to 3-1 and 9-7-2.

After threatening in the first and second innings, Carthage, with two outs in the third, loaded the bases with back-to-back-to-back singles by Sam Watson, Dillon Davenport and Cade Preston off Brody Benson (1-2), the starting pitcher for the Bulldogs, who would take the loss.

Benson hit Brooks Soape with a pitch to score Watson with the first run of the contest. Cade Moore lashed a hard-hit ground ball between first and second base which Tanner Beets fielded with a diving stop, but the first of four Kilgore errors enabled Davenport and Preston to score, giving Carthage a 3-0 lead.

Smith, the Carthage starting pitcher, came into the contest with a 2-3 record, having a 1.27 ERA in 33 innings. He had 34 strikeouts and just seven walks with a 2-1 win against Henderson in a complete game, and a 2-0 loss to Spring Hill.

He evened his record at 3-3 by blanking Kilgore on the scoreboard, and limiting the Bulldogs to just four hits. Smith struck out six and did not allow a walk.  He faced the minimum three batters in the first, second, third and seventh innings.

This marked his third complete game in district play.

Tate Truman led the way for Kilgore with two hits, a double and a single. Cade Cox and Todd House also singled against the crafty right-hander. Truman’s two-out double in the fourth inning was Kilgore’s first hit of the contest.

With a three-run lead, Carthage added three in the top of the sixth off Beets, the first of two Kilgore relievers. The second was Salvador Cervantes.

A couple of Kilgore errors along with a hit by Carson Crawford, and Watson and Davenport, reaching on fielder’s choices, scored Maddox Martinez, Crawford and Kaden Ritter.

The Dawgs batted around, icing the contest with six more runs on three hits in the top of the seventh inning.

Carthage finished with 10 hits, collecting those were Ty Chambers, Watson, Davenport, Preston, Soape, and Crawford.

Kilgore returns to action Friday, traveling to Longview to face Spring Hill, which beat Henderson Tuesday to remain unbeaten in district play (4-0) and 11-6-1 for the season, while Carthage returns home to entertain Center.

Henderson 17, Kilgore 0 (softball): Unfortunately for Kilgore fans, Henderson’s Lady Lions softball team got off to a red-hot start in the district opener for both teams Tuesday night, and never really cooled off.

Henderson scored five runs on as many hits in the first inning, then scored eight runs on five hits and two errors in the second, leaving the Lady Bulldogs’ backs against the wall on their home field.

Chloe Ellis, Jacie Booth, Kristina Jackson and Brinklee Bowman each had RBI singles in the first inning and Jayda Brown added an RBI double, contributing to the mess in which Kilgore found themselves.

And then Booth, the Lady Lions’ pitcher, proved to be tough, getting Kilgore to go 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first (a strikeout, a dropped third-strike but thrown out, and then a groundout to first base).

After Kilgore’s quick half of the first, it was more of the same from the Lady Lions in the top of the second – a LOT more.

Addy Davis, who earned a walk and scored in the first inning, smacked a double, stole third and then scored on a wild pitch during Ellis’s at-bat, before Ellis eventually hit a double, as well.

The next two runs scored on errors that also allowed batters to reach base and keep the inning going.

And then Jackson, Bowman and Brown managed back-to-back-to-back hits, all scoring runs, Brown’s a RBI double, and one more would come in on a sacrifice grounder by Addy Standley, giving the Lady Lions a 13-0 lead from which Kilgore wouldn’t come back.

In fact, Kilgore again only had three batters in the bottom of the inning, but in the top of the third, Kilgore reliever Karsyn Stover got Booth to pop up and out to Thaiona Moore at second base; got McKenna Moon to hit a grounder to Aniyah Polk at third, which Polk threw over to Addison Pierson for an out at first; and after a walk, Stover got Jackson to fly out to right field – Kilgore got out of the inning without allowing a run.

And Addison Murphy got one of Kilgore’s two hits in the bottom of the third, but the rest of the batters were all strikeouts, thrown by Booth.

In the top of the fourth, four more Lady Lions’ runners would cross home plate on three hits, one of them a solo home run by Ellis. With an out in the books, Anna Cheek reached on an error, and then scored on an RBI triple by Standley (14-0). Davis hit a sacrifice fly to score Standley (15-0), and then Ellis, with the bases clear, hit a solo homer (16-0). Moon had an RBI single to score Booth, who had walked, for what would be the final run of the game.

Kilgore did get one more hit: a double by Moore in the bottom of the fourth, but she was stranded and didn’t score.

Henderson visits Center on Friday, a 6 p.m. varsity start, and the Lady Bulldogs are also on the road, scheduled to play at Spring Hill at 6 p.m., varsity.