THE FLYOVER, SOFTBALL STYLE | A look at every single game from Friday night, and updating the playoff situation in each district
Home field certainly can make a difference. It does in the NFL playoffs; it does in Major League Baseball. It did the first time Gilmer and Henderson faced each other this year in softball, when Gilmer won.
And it did Friday night here at the Lady Lions’ softball complex, where two of East Texas’ softball powers got it on, and when the playoffs start, their opponents better look out.
Only one can win District 16-4A, though, and it’s going to be close down the stretch.
Henderson came out on top in this one, a 5-3 win at home that allowed coach John White’s Lady Lions to secure their 20th win of the season, and their fourth straight. They split the season series with Gilmer, after the Lady Buckeyes beat Henderson in Gilmer a few weeks ago, back on March 18 (2-0).
Henderson (20-6-1) is 8-2 in 16-4A play and only has two regular season games left: at Kilgore this coming Tuesday, then home against Carthage on Thursday (due to the Good Friday holiday). Junior varsity will start both of those nights at 5 p.m., varsity will play just after, around 6:30.
The UIL’s 4A playoffs will begin the following week for Henderson, and for all teams that finish in the top four in their district standings.
For Gilmer, now, it was a costly loss. Coach Keirsten Seahorn’s Lady Buckeyes and Carthage each are 8-2 in district, but Carthage beat Gilmer twice this season – Carthage right now is in the lead in the standings, by virtue of those head-to-head meetings.
Gilmer (18-4-2 overall) can still win the district title. But it needs to win its final two regular season games this week (at Pine Tree, starting with JV at 5 p.m. Tuesday, and then home against Kilgore on Thursday, also starting with JV at 5), and hope Carthage will drop one of its last two. Carthage has a home game Tuesday against Chapel Hill – Chapel Hill is at the very bottom of the district standings, and hasn’t won a district game.
But Carthage’s last game – Thursday night at Henderson – that’s a possible loss.
There were fireworks in Henderson Friday night, on the mound with Chloe Ellis and Gilmer’s Alexis Kemp throwing, and anytime Henderson’s Jacie Boothe or Gilmer’s Jayna Rucker stepped into the batter’s box.
Ellis would win the duel of two very good pitchers this time. Ellis had 11 strikeouts, and allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits and walked three.
Kemp allowed six runs (four earned0 on six hits, one walk and struck out three.
Boothe had a home run for Henderson, and Colbie Rountree and Addy Standley each had a double. Standley had 2 RBI and Kristina Jackson and Niya Vanzandt each had one. Rucker had a home run for the Lady Buckeyes and 2 RBI. Brie Jones had a double and a single for Gilmer.
Spring Hill 13, Kilgore 3: A tough season is drawing to a close for the Kilgore Lady Bulldogs, who won’t get into the playoffs this year, as their season will come to an end, unfortunately, this coming week.
Kilgore (5-18 overall) dropped to 3-8 in District 16-4A with this loss to Spring Hill in Longview on Friday night, Kilgore’s third straight road game. The Lady Bulldogs haven’t played at home since April 1 – by the time they take the field Tuesday night at home against Henderson, that will have been over two weeks ago.
Kilgore hosts Henderson on Tuesday at 5 p.m., with the JV game first, and then varsity, and then visits Gilmer, as mentioned earlier, also with JV at 5, then varsity to follow. Those are the final two games this year for the Lady ‘Dogs.
As for Spring Hill (16-11-1), they’re actually on the outside looking in, as well, where the playoffs are concerned. They’re fifth right now, and the playoff teams in 16-4A are currently Carthage, Gilmer, Henderson and Pine Tree.
Worse for the Lady Panthers, they don’t control their own destiny. They have a district bye on Tuesday – they’re not off, actually. They’ll play at Brook Hill, in Bullard, a 6 p.m. start. But they’re not playing in a district game, so winning makes no difference. They’ll need to beat Chapel Hill next Thursday, and hope Pine Tree loses at least once. Pine Tree and Spring Hill split the season series.
In Kilgore’s game against Spring Hill Friday, the Lady Panthers scored a run in the top of the first, then another in the second to go up 2-0. Kilgore cut the lead in half in the second (2-1), but then Spring Hill plated four runs in the third (6-1).
Spring Hill landed pretty much the knockout blows in the top of the fourth with four more runs. (10-1), even though Kilgore would score twice more.
Spring Hill would out-hit KHS, 11-5. Each team was charged with four errors.
Anaiyah Polk and Molly Quine each had a double; Quine went 2-for-3. Kell Hooper and Kyler Harper-Fickett also each had a hit. Polk had 2 RBI. Lexi Elmore, Harper-Fickett, Quine and Karsyn Stover each had a stolen base.
Stover pitched for Kilgore, going all five innings. She threw 101 pitches, faced 32 batters, and allowed the 11 hits. She gave up 13 runs (nine earned) and walked just two.
Peyton Dees had two doubles for Spring Hill, and Sophie Robinett and Khloe Saxon each had one. Saxon, Robinett and Aubreigh Whiddon each hit a triple for Spring Hill, and Josie Gray had 3 RBI.
Abbye McFaul got the win on the mound, going 5 2/3 innings. She struck out seven, allowed the five hits, gave up three runs (two earned), and walked two.
Overton 11, Union Grove 2: It wasn’t quite a run-rule game – the Lady Mustangs didn’t score enough until late to complete it – but we’re pretty sure their fans went home just as happy.
That’s because Overton has won 13 straight games and is 12-0 in District 19-2A play after mowing down another district opponent.
The Lady Mustangs (16-8-1) only have two games left in the regular season, against the same opponent: rival Beckville. They’ll face them twice this week: at Overton on Tuesday, a 4 p.m. start, then at Beckville on Thursday, at 4:30.
And wouldn’t you know it – it’s for all the marbles. Beckville is 20-7-2 overall and is ALSO 12-0 in district play. So this week: it’s winner-take-all, winner gets the district title and goes into the UIL Class 2A playoffs as the No. 1 seed from 19-2A.
In Friday’s win over UG, Overton scored six runs in the bottom of the second, added another in the fourth, and then finished it off with four runs in the bottom of the sixth. Union Grove got its two runs in the top of the sixth.
No UG player had more than one hit, although Kaki Pharr had a double, and 2 RBI.
Overton standout pitcher Kelsey Vaught got the complete-game win: she struck out nine and allowed just two walks. And at the plate, she was awesome: she went 3-for-4 with three doubles, and 3 RBI.
Bryleigh Nelson, just a freshman, also went 3-for-4, one of them a home run, with 3 RBI, as well. Kasha Williams hit a home run and had 3 RBI. Sarah Emery had a hit and an RBI for Overton. Mason Fenter had a hit and an RBI. And Siann Levoy had two stolen bases; Emery and Nelson each had one.
Troup 14, White Oak 7: A pair of traditionally-strong 3A programs met up as the District 16-3A schedule continued on Lady’Neck turf on Friday at White Oak, and Troup is just on a roll.
Coach Murphy Williams’ Lady Tigers (22-5 overall, 10-1 in district play) have just one game left in the regular season: a road game at Sabine, who only has one win in the district schedule, on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Liberty City.
Against White Oak, Troup was able to belt out nine hits and get off to a good start early, plating seven runs in the first two innings. The Lady Tigers took advantage of eight White Oak errors in victory.
White Oak did score a first-inning run, and scattered the other six in the fourth, fifth and sixth, with two runs in each inning. White Oak (11-11-1) had seven hits, and is very much a playoff team – the Lady’Necks are 5-4 in district (currently third place) and have only one game left on their regular season schedule: they host Tatum on Tuesday, a 4:30 p.m. start.
White Oak is off after that, an open date before the playoffs start the following week, something that could give coach Nineveh Blankenship’s team a real advantage going into that first-round playoff.
Against Troup, White Oak got two home runs from multi-time Whataburger / ETBlitz.com girls Player of the Week Addison McClanahan, who finished with 3 RBI. Madi Baker had a home run, and Grace Heairet had an RBI. On the mound, Addy Young had a strikeout and allowed three earned runs and three walks in 3 2/3 innings; Kara Kennedy went 3 1/3 innings and also struck out one and walked three.
For Troup in the game, Taylor Gillispie had a home run and 3 RBI. A quartet of freshmen, Heather Longino, Kiyah Arterberry, Ava Hays and Olivia Anderson, each had a big night: Hays went 3-for-4 with a double, Longino had a single and 2 RBI, Arterberry had a hit, and Anderson went 2-of-4 with a double. Shiloh Sluder had a hit, and MaKayla Spencer and London Driggers each had an RBI.
Gillispie had two stolen bases, and Anderson and Arterberry each had one.
Gillispie also got the complete-game win, throwing seven innings. She allowed seven runs, four of them earned, on seven hits, with five walks and eight strikeouts.
Arp 13, Gladewater 3: Arp’s Lady Tigers (24-4, 10-1 in 16-3A) are on a roll, too, having won nine straight. They split the season series with Troup – in fact, that’s the only game either of them lost. Arp beat Troup on March 3, ironically in Troup, 10-6, and then Troup returned the favor, beating Arp in Arp, on March 7, 8-3.
We’ll see how things play out in the coming days.
Coach Mikaila Kenney’s Arp team has one game left in the regular season: they’re home at 6 p.m. Tuesday night against West Rusk, and that’s senior night.
On Friday night against Gladewater, Arp was clicking.
And clacking. And all kinds of things, as they ran away with a run-rule win.
Addison Carpenter had another big day: she hit a triple, doubled twice and collected 4 RBI in helping her own cause. She was also the pitcher for the night for the Lady Tigers, and had four strikeouts in the run-rule shortened, five-inning performance on the mound, allowing three walks.
Also in the batter’s box for Arp, Hannah Martindale had a single and 3 RBI; Aubry Way had two singles; Avery Littlepage and Neci Potts each had a double and a single and an RBI; and Kaitlynn Raymond had a double and 2 RBI.
For Gladewater, Karlee Moses had a double; Shaylee Ellis had a double and a single; and Caydence Martin had two singles for the Lady Bears (9-14-1, 5-7), who are holding on to that fourth and final playoff spot in District 16-3A.
And that was actually Gladewater’s regular season finale. The Lady Bears won’t take the field again until playoff time, unless they schedule a warm-up game.
So it looks like, in 16-3A, it’ll be either Troup or Arp as the No. 1 seed, either Troup or Arp at No. 2, White Oak in the No. 3 spot, and Gladewater in the fourth spot as the UIL 3A playoffs begin.
Tatum, by the way, had an open date on Friday.
West Rusk 17, Sabine 15: This was a wild one in Liberty City, as Sabine was looking for back-to-back wins for the first time all season, after beating WR earlier this week, and the Lady Raiders – well, they were out for revenge.
And they ultimately got it.
A high-scoring game began early, as Dr. Bill Morton’s West Rusk team plated 11 runs in the second inning. By the finish, Dustyn Redden had a home run, a triple, a single and had 3 RBI for the Lady Raiders. Lainey Dotson had a triple, a single and 2 RBI. Lyric McCandless had two triples, two doubles and 5 RBI.
Also for West Rusk, Kenlee Reasoner had a triple, a double and an RBI. Summer LeJeune had two doubles and a single. Genesis Mata had two singles and an RBI. Abby Wood and Paisley Smith had an RBI each.
For Sabine, Katt Akers and Keely McCann each had a home run, and each finished with 3 RBI. Madison Pierce tripled two times, hit a single, as well, and had 2 RBI.
Emma Bradford had a double, two singles and 3 RBI. Breanna Hill also had a double and two singles. Claire Burns had two singles and an RBI, and Hailey Pepper also had two singles, and an RBI.
Maycie Westbrook had four strikeouts for Sabine; Reasoner had six for West Rusk.
West Rusk, as mentioned earlier, finishes the regular season Tuesday night at Arp, a 6 p.m. first-pitch, and Sabine will host Troup, also starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
