TUESDAY SOFTBALL ROUNDUP | Henderson is hushing folks up; Gilmer gets KHS at home; Sabine, Tatum win

Kilgore High School’s softball team tried to make it two wins in a row Tuesday night, hosting Gilmer in a District 17-4A contest at Stream-Flo Field.

But the Lady Buckeyes were equally determined Kilgore would not – and Gilmer’s will won out on this night, a 17-7 Gilmer win.

Around the ETBlitz.com coverage area, Henderson continued its hot streak, taking down Carthage in Carthage, 5-4, for a district win; Sabine pitching combined for 11 strikeouts in an 8-2 win over Gladewater; and Tatum shut out Jefferson, 3-0.

Henderson 5, Carthage 4: Carthage’s Jaleah Williams had an incredible night: a home run, a triple, and 3 RBI.

But it wasn’t enough to get Carthage a win at home Tuesday night against a Henderson team that has started District 17-4A play on a tear. The Lady Lions are 3-0 in district, and have outscored those three teams, 31-4. Wow.

At Carthage, Addy Davis had a double and a single, and McKenna Moon tripled in a lower-scoring win than what they had been used to – but a win, nonetheless.

Jacie Booth, Chloe Ellis and Moon each had an RBI, and Ellis had seven strikeouts in a complete-game win.

Henderson (16-7 overall) will visit Gilmer at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

Gilmer 17, Kilgore 7: Speaking of Gilmer, the loss they handed Kilgore drops coach Lacey Middlebrooks’ Lady ‘Dogs to a 1-2 record in 17-4A play. They’ll play on Thursday this week (due to the Good Friday holiday), hosting Center tomorrow at 4:30 p.m., starting with junior varsity – varsity should begin around 6, 6:15.

Gilmer belted 13 hits and had no errors in Tuesday’s game; Kilgore had a decent amount of hits (eight) and only one error; last week, the Lady ‘Dogs won a game at Spring Hill where they actually committed seven errors and overcame it.

Tuesday night was all about the offense, but most of it came late. Kilgore actually held Gilmer in check for a lot of the game – Gilmer got two runs in the top of the third to break the scoreless tie. Alexis Kemp reached on a fielder’s choice, and then scored on an RBI double by Jayna Rucker.

Kilgore couldn’t get any offense going in its half of the third or the fourth innings, but the defense was bend-don’t-break. The Lady ‘Dogs survived back-to-back doubles by Brie Jones and Alex Werbeck to get out of the top of the fifth without giving up another run – KHS third baseman Aniyah Polk and first baseman Addison Pierson combined for a ground-out to escape the threat.

They weren’t as fortunate in the top of the sixth, though, as the Lady Buckeyes got back-to-back-to-back hits, blowing the score up to 7-0 before Kilgore could get out of it.

But KHS would punch back. Eva Ray had a line-drive single to right field, and then Jae’la Williams followed with another single. Ray held up at second, with Williams at first, and then Thaiona Moore said the heck with it, and hit a three-run home run over the center field fence, getting Kilgore back within four (7-3) with a swing of the bat.

Gilmer ended the inning with a strikeout of Polk after that, but the Lady ‘Dogs were on the board.

That’s when the bottom fell out, unfortunately.

Lilly Dorsett doubled, Livi Brown was hit by a pitch, Dorsett stole home, and Kaydence Smith was hit by a pitch – six Gilmer batters in all were hit by pitches in the inning, and combined with three hits, Gilmer moved their lead up to 17-3.

Kilgore shrank it in the bottom of the seventh, but a 14-run deficit was just too much to overcome. Kilgore’s entire mini-rally, we’ll call it, started with two outs. Karsyn Stover hit a double to center, then went to third on a single by Kell Hooper. Pierson was hit by a pitch, loading the bases.

Stover stole home for a run, and everybody stole, in fact – Hooper third, and Pierson second. Ray hit a double to score Hooper, and then Pierson scored on a double by Williams, who would steal home during Moore’s next at-bat.

But that would be the end for Kilgore’s girls on Tuesday, a 3-for-4 performance by Williams with a double, two singles and 2 RBI; the three-run home run blast by Moore; two hits by Ray, who had the RBI; and the double by Stover and single by Hooper.

Sabine 8, Gladewater 2: The Lady Cardinals had a big night, as well, with a District 15-3A win.

Karsyn Watson had a triple and an RBI for Sabine (14-10 overall, 2-2 in district play). Bailey Pierce had a double. Breanna Hill had a single and an RBI, and Abbie Abercrombie had an RBI, as well.

Amelia Miller had six strikeouts and Kattlin Akers had five, as the Lady Cardinals kept Gladewater’s threat to a minimum on this night. Still, Karlee Moses had a double, a single and 2 RBI. Alayah Gordon took the loss, throwing all seven innings with four strikeouts.

Sabine has its next game on the schedule as hosting Hughes Springs on Friday at 6 p.m., but that game has been moved – it’s still Friday, but it’s at 1 p.m. instead.

Tatum 3, Jefferson 0: Karly Stroud had a double and came around to score, and a single as well, in this win for the Lady Eagles.

Aundrea Bradley, Noa Cart and Jasmyne Taylor each had two hits for Tatum, and Cart got the win on the mound, notching five strikeouts.

Maddie Cooner had three hits for Jefferson in the loss.

The Lady Eagles are off this weekend, and are back this coming Tuesday, April 2, at home against Troup. And that night, it’s teacher appreciation night.

Tatum is 2-2 in District 16-4A.