SOFTBALL ROUNDUP | Henderson, Gilmer win ahead of showdown; KHS slips at PT; Overton, Arp, Troup continue to roll; more
Henderson’s Lady Lions and Gilmer’s Lady Buckeyes both won Tuesday night in District 16-4A softball, setting up a big showdown Friday.
Henderson got a home run and two singles from Kristina Jackson and a complete-game performance on the mound by Chloe Ellis in a 11-1 run-rule win at home over Spring Hill on Tuesday.
Jackson was bolstered by a double by McKenna Moon and by Addy Davis, and RBIs from KK Brooks, Anna Cheek and Colbie Rountree.
Ellis walked only two and had five strikeouts in the five-inning game, and at the plate had a double and two singles.
Peyton Dees had a triple for Spring Hill (15-11-1, 4-6 in district) in the loss.
The Lady Lions are now 7-2 in district play, and 19-6-1 overall. One of those two district losses was a 2-0 setback at Gilmer back on March 18.
Henderson has won three straight games, and will host Gilmer on Friday, a 5 p.m. start for the junior varsity game, with the varsity playing afterward.
Henderson 9, Pine Tree 1 (Monday): This game had originally been scheduled for last Friday, but the weather didn’t let it happen for three days.
They finally were able to play it Monday, and Brooks had a big day: a double, a single, and 4 RBI for the Lady Lions.
Boothe had eight strikeouts in getting the win on the mound for HHS. At the plate, she had a single and 2 RBI.
Ellis, Moon, and Niya Vanzandt all each had a double and a single for Henderson, Vanzandt had an RBI; Rountree had two singles; and Davis had an RBI.
Gilmer 15, Chapel Hill 0: Gilmer, now, took care of business as well on Tuesday, run-ruling Chapel Hill, 15-0 in Gilmer.
Chapel Hill didn’t have a single base-runner, a single hit, not anything: Gilmer pitchers Alexis Kemp and Kaydence Smith combined for a perfect game. Kemp had six strikeouts and Smith, three, in the run-rule win.
Alex Werbeck had two doubles and Kara Williams, one, and Livi Brown had three singles. Werbeck, Williams, Lilly Dorsett, and Brie Jones all each had 2 RBI, and Jayna Rucker had Kendi Canady each had an RBI.
Coach Keirsten Seahorn’s Lady Buckeyes (17-3-2 overall, 7-1 in district) made short work of Chapel Hill (1-15, 0-9) and lead 16-4A. Gilmer’s only district loss was to Carthage, 10-8, back on March 31.
The regular season is running short: they each only have three games remaining, counting Friday’s showdown with each other.
Pine Tree 16, Kilgore 5: The Lady Pirates, playing at home, plated four runs in the bottom of the first inning, so Kilgore never led in the game.
PT scored three more in the second, four in the third, and five in the fourth to finish the contest early; the Lady Pirates finished the game with eight hits.
Kilgore (4-16 overall) drops to 2-7 in district and like Henderson and Gilmer, has three games left in the regular season, beginning Friday at Spring Hill. The schedule is not kind to Kilgore – when coach Gabby Moore’s Lady ‘Dogs take the field Friday at Spring Hill, they will have played four straight road games. They haven’t played at home since April 1.
In the loss to Pine Tree (9-15-1, 5-5), Kilgore scored a run in the second inning, two in the third and two in the fourth, and also had eight hits. Molly Quine and Kell Hooper each had two hits, each with a double and a single; Hooper had 3 RBI and Quine had one. Karsyn Stover, Makaylah Jackson, Addison Pierson and Aniyah Polk each had a hit; Pierson also had an RBI.
Pierson and Camara Duncan-Morgan each had a stolen base.
Cheyenne Jones and Duncan-Morgan pitched for Kilgore. Jones threw three innings, allowing 11 runs (seven of them earned; Kilgore had four errors) on six hits, walked seven and struck out four. Duncan-Morgan allowed five runs (four of them earned) on two hits, and walked four in one inning.
Kilgore 22, Chapel Hill 12 (Monday): The night before, Kilgore got two hits each from Lexi Elmore, Duncan-Morgan, Pierson, Polk, and Stephanie Sheffield; Pierson, Hooper and Polk each had a double; Quine and Jones and Stover all each had a hit; and Elmore and Polk each had 4 RBI in the run-rule shortened game.
Jones, Duncan-Morgan, Pierson and Sheffield each had an RBI.
Kilgore went wild stealing bases: Molly Quine and Duncan-Morgan each had three; Stover, Sheffield and Jones each had one.
Stover got the win on the mound for the Lady Bulldogs. She allowed 12 hits and the 12 runs (nine of them earned), and struck out four in five innings.
District 19-2A
Overton 10, Union Grove 5: The Lady Mustangs had a good trip back from Union Grove on Tuesday night – you would, too, if you’d won 12 straight games.
And they’re 11-0 in district play.
Overton (15-8-1) will host Union Grove (11-7) on Friday.
The teams played two scoreless innings of softball before Overton broke through in the top of the third with a couple of runs, then scored three more in the top of the fourth for a 5-0 lead.
UG scored in the bottom of the fourth to cut into that lead (5-2), but the Lady Mustangs kept their foot on the gas, outscoring UG 5-0 the rest of the game.
Overton finished with 13 hits – UG committed five errors.
We’ll have more information on this game on Wednesday.
District 16-3A
Sabine 14, West Rusk 6: It’s been a long season for the Lady Cardinals, but it was made a little better – from their perspective – on Tuesday with their very first win, overall and in District 16-3A play.
Breanna Hill had a double and three singles and 3 RBI for Sabine (1-12 overall, 1-9 in district). Madison Pierce had a double, two singles and also had 3 RBI, and Emma Bradford had three singles and 2 RBI for the Lady Cardinals.
Katt Akers had two singles for Sabine. Claire Burns did, as well, and had an RBI, and Keely McCann, Toni Knight and Maycie Westbrook each had an RBI.
Westbrook got the win on the mound, going all seven innings – she allowed only one earned run and had five strikeouts.
For West Rusk, who dropped to 0-7 in district with the loss, Kenlee Reasoner had three singles. Abby Wood and Dustyn Redden each had a double and a single; Redden had 2 RBI and Wood one. Summer LeJuene had two singles and a double, and an RBI. Lainey Dotson had an RBI, as well.
The two teams meet again, this time on Sabine’s campus in Liberty City, on Friday at 6 p.m.
Troup 12, White Oak 2: In Troup, the Lady Tigers’ Taylor Gillispie helped demonstrate why her team not only has nine straight wins, but they’re also sitting atop the 16-3A standings.
Gillispie had a home run, a double and 3 RBI and also got the pitching win against a good White Oak team Tuesday night. On the mound, she had seven strikeouts and allowed just four hits and one walk over five innings pitched.
Troup is 21-5 overall, and 9-1 in district play, and visits White Oak on Friday, starting at 4:30 p.m. with the junior varsity game.
White Oak is 11-10-1 overall, and 5-3 in district.
Heather Longino had a double for Troup, and London Driggers had two singles and 3 RBI. Ava Hays had 2 RBI and Makayla Spencer had one.
Kylie Caraway had a single and brought in both of the Lady’Necks’ runs. Addy Young had two strikeouts in the loss.
Arp 17, Gladewater 0: Another red-hot team in 16-3A are the Arp Lady Tigers, who got a Whataburger / ETBlitz girls Player of the Week-type performance from Addison Carpenter on Tuesday night.
Carpenter was only the home run shy of the cycle. She hit a triple, a double, a single and had 4 RBI in this win at Gladewater.
Neci Potts was practically as unstoppable, with a triple a single and 3 RBI in Arp’s eighth straight win (23-4, 9-1).
They’ll have a rematch at Arp on Friday.
Hannah Martindale had a home run and a single for Arp. Maddie Birdsong had two singles and 2 RBI. Lacy Fletcher and Aubry Way each had two singles and an RBI, and Avery Littlepage and Marissa Vanover each had two singles, as well.
Fletcher didn’t allow a walk and only allowed four hits to the Lady Bears (9-13-1, 4-6).
Caydence Martin had a double for Gladewater, the Lady Bears’ only extra base hit.
Carthage 10, Tatum 0: That score is real – this was a non-district game. Tatum’s Lady Eagles stepped out of 16-3A, and Carthage’s Lady Bulldogs stepped out of 16-4A for this contest in Tatum.
Tatum ran into a tough one on the mound in Carthage pitcher Mallory Tutt, who only allowed two hits: Jasmyne Taylor and Camryn Milam had those for the Lady Eagles (7-12 overall, 4-6 in 16-3A).
Tatum will have an open date Friday and play White Oak at White Oak next Tuesday.
