October 10, 2024

TATUM’S CARSON GONZALEZ (AGAIN) & KILGORE’S EVA RAY | They’re the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week!

Tatum senior Carson Gonzalez (1) leaps and then stomps on home plate at Brook Hill after hitting a grand slam in a UIL Class 3A Regional Quarterfinal win against West Rusk on Friday. Gonzalez and Kilgore softball standout Eva Ray (below, center, surrounded by her teammates) are the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week for the week of May 13-18. (Photo above by RONNIE SARTORS - SPORT SHOT PHOTOGRAPHY - ETBLITZ.COM; Photo below by JENNA LUCAS - ETBLITZ.COM)
Tatum senior Carson Gonzalez (1) leaps and then stomps on home plate at Brook Hill after hitting a grand slam in a UIL Class 3A Regional Quarterfinal win against West Rusk on Friday. Gonzalez and Kilgore softball standout Eva Ray (below, center, surrounded by her teammates) are the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week for the week of May 13-18. (Photo above by RONNIE SARTORS – SPORT SHOT PHOTOGRAPHY – ETBLITZ.COM; Photo below by JENNA LUCAS – ETBLITZ.COM)

Life is pretty good if you’re Eva Ray and Carson Gonzalez right now.

At least, it seems to be.

Ray is a senior at Kilgore High School; Carson is a senior at Tatum High School.

Ray’s senior season, her softball season, is over, and the Lady Bulldogs didn’t make the playoffs. But she’s being honored this week for something else (read on).

Carson? He’s just owning it, a member of Tatum’s baseball team that’s never really soared higher.

And they’re our Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week.

Eva is collecting this award for winning an award, quite frankly. She had to endure a tough season on the field, win-loss wise, as catcher for coach Lacey Middlebrooks’ Kilgore High School Lady Bulldogs.

Eva is from a diamond sports family. Her dad, Jared, was for many years a coach and super involved in the Kilgore Boys Baseball Association, and also in the Kilgore Youth Softball Association, guiding his oldest child, son Cullen, and then Eva, through KBBA and KYSA, with mom Kenya there, too – many miles of regular season and fall ball, all-stars, etc., and any parent involved in the diamond sports culture in Texas knows that drill. It. Never. Stops.

Then came high school, and her career as a Lady Bulldog, most of it under former coach Cheyenne Kirkpatrick, another former KHS softball star. Eva just finished up with a .517 batting average and a .933 fielding percentage.

But for Eva, it was more than growing up busy as an athlete. She was so much more than that, with Kilgore’s SkillsUSA / Health Science department, and her talent as a member of the KHS band’s drumline.

Eva was recently recognized as the Greater Texas Ford Dealers Class 4A Female Athlete of the Month in the state! Here’s our original story, and if you go to that, there’s also a link in there to a YouTube interview with Eva and Ric Renner: KILGORE’S EVA RAY HONORED! | She’s the Greater Texas Ford Female Athlete of the Month! (etblitz.com).

And for that, Eva is our Whataburger / ETBlitz.com girls Player of the Week for the week of May 13-18.

Now, to Mr. Gonzalez.

Tatum fans call him “Cargo.”

Opposing fans call him – well, we don’t know what they call him. We know they don’t want to see him coming.

Last week, Gonzalez helped his team take game one of the Eagles’ UIL Class 3A Region II Quarterfinal series against West Rusk by getting the victory on the mound, a five-inning performance. He had four strikeouts, allowed three hits, one run, three walks, and remained unbeaten (9-0) on the season.

In game two, he had an RBI double, then later in the game, a grand slam home run to help the Eagles put away West Rusk and win the series.

That means Gonzalez takes our award two weeks in a row: he definitely deserves it.

For his performance in the regional quarterfinals against a very talented West Rusk team, Carson Gonzalez is the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com boys Player of the Week for the week of May 13-18.

And if you’d like to look back, or read about any of our player of the week award-winners, here’s the list, in its entirety:

Well, we’ve got a new feature on ETBlitz.com.

We call it our “Hungry now?” button.

You can find it at the very top of our website, on both the desktop and the mobile versions, and it leads – where else?!! – directly to Whataburger | Order Online with Curbside and Delivery.

There, you can get the jump on whatever your little heart, or more specifically, your hunger, desires. And you can do it any time of the day, or night. They’re open all day, every day.

Glad we could help!

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