WAKE UP! on ETBLITZ | Henderson protest effort gains steam after softball loss; baseball playoff update

EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to day three of Wake Up! on ETBlitz.com. Our job – well, mine – every day is to let you guys know what’s gone on in sports in the last day, to tell you what’s coming up in the next day or two, and  we tell you what’s coming up in local sports, maybe even make you laugh a bit before you start the work day. Wake Up! is brought to you by the Cozy Coffee Station, which has two locations in the ETBlitz coverage area: in Gilmer, at 755 U.S. Highway 71, and in Kilgore, at 110 Midtown Plaza. Online, they’re here: Home | Cozy Coffee Station, and on Instagram and on Facebook.

HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS

Let’s address what everybody’s talking about from Saturday, and that’s the Henderson High School softball team actually winning the third-and-deciding playoff game against Community, then having it taken away from them on officials’ decision AFTER the game had already been ruled complete by the umpire – who was right on the spot.

All of this happened at Athens High School as a part of the UIL Class 4A, Division I bi-district, or first round. Henderson had dropped game one, 6-4, but then bounced back for a 12-10 win in game two, forcing the deciding third game on Saturday.

The Lady Lions led 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning, with Community at bat. Henderson had two outs, one out away from winning the game.

A Community player, trying to steal home, ran out of the base path, and eventually was caught for what looked to be out three. The umpire ruled out three, ballgame, and the celebration was on, right?

Wrong.

Community’s coaches argued that there was obstruction of the runner’s path, and after a discussion between officials, the umpire reversed his decision, saying they were counting the run, and that tied the game at 4 – the game would continue into extra innings.

It did, and Henderson wound up on the wrong end of a 5-4 decision.

We had this last night, and here it is once again:

Our understanding is that there will be a protest filed with the University Interscholastic League, which governs all things high school sports in the state. But we at ETBlitz.com have seen only one protest with the UIL that was successful.

A little over a year ago, Lufkin High School won its appeal with the UIL to be moved to a different district after the bi-annual realignment of districts for football. Lufkin’s argument was that its distance in the district in which the UIL had placed the Panthers put an unnecessary hardship on them, travel-wise. The UIL reconsidered, and overturned its own realignment committee, ruling that Lufkin could be placed in a district with teams closer to them.

Now, if Henderson does indeed protest – and in our opinion, they should – they have a point, because this was not simply just any old call in a game. It actually ENDED the game. The game should have ended on the play, where there appears no clear obstruction.

The UIL should at very least hear the appeal. After all, if protests in the UIL don’t EVER do any good, why to we have the process?

If, in fact, the officials’ decision in that game sticks, and Henderson is out of the 4A-DI playoffs, that would mean the season would be over for all of the programs in the ETBlitz.com coverage area that made the softball playoffs.

Here’s hoping the UIL not only hears the appeal, but does the right thing and re-instates the original decision, that Community had rolled up three outs, and the final of the game was 4-3, and Henderson moves on.

HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL PLAYOFFS

Kilgore

With the exception of the Tatum High School Eagles, it wasn’t a great day in the baseball playoffs either, for ETBlitz.com-area schools.

Kilgore, which had lost game one of its UIL Class 4A, Division I playoff series on Friday (4-0), lost game two, 4-3, to Lindale and was eliminated for the postseason. Kilgore winds up the first year under Zach Hubbard with a 12-18 overall record.

Lindale needed extra innings to beat the Diamond ‘Dogs. J. Powell hit a lead-off single to center field, and H. Harry came in to run for him. Harry advanced to second on a fly ball hit to center by C. Hart, and then after Kilgore’s Kaelon Clayton got a strikeout, H. Legrow singled to left field, scoring Harry from second, and the game was a final, 4-3.

Kilgore had gone down 2-0 early, but tied the game in the top of the fifth.

With an out in the books already, Brayden Williams drew a four-pitch walk. He went to second on a single by Tanner Beets, and then Kolton Hale stepped to the plate. Hale hit a grounder into left field that scored Williams, and then two batters later, Cason Edney hit another single into left, scoring Beets and tying the game at 2.

Lindale got out of the mess and then broke the tie in the bottom of the sixth. Kaden Fleming who had singled, scored on an infield single by Hudson Legrow, putting Lindale’s Eagles back in front by a run, 3-2.

Kilgore would tie it, though: Joseph Hendrickson hit a lead-off triple in the top of the seventh, and then Devin Tinney, running for Hendrickson, scored on an RBI single by Edney.

The Eagles wouldn’t allow another run, though, and that set up the game’s final sequence.

Henderson

There WAS some good news for Henderson sports fans on Saturday.

After dropping game one at home, 3-1, on Friday, Henderson’s Lions, coached by Brock Lemire, went to Mabank and won game two convincingly, 17-3, then escaped Mabank with an 8-6 win in game three.

Henderson wins the series, two games to one, and advances to the second, or area, round to face Pleasant Grove this coming week, at a time and site, and on a day to be determined. As soon as the series is set and details announced, we’ll have that here on ETBlitz.com.

We’ll also have more on those last two games against Mabank later in the day.

Tatum

The Eagles did their best Mike Tyson impersonation, having shut out Mineola once, 4-0, in game one, then did it again on a much larger scale on Saturday, a 10-0 win to wrap up the series.

Tatum (21-8) faces Liberty-Eylau next in the second, or area round. When details are set, we’ll announce em.

Overton

The Overton Mustangs won a one-game playoff against LaPoynor on Thursday, as we’ve reported.

Overton (23-6) will face James Bowie (19-6) in the second round. Game one will be at Tatum on Thursday, at 7 p.m., and Overton will be the home team.

Game two is Friday at Atlanta, a 5 p.m. start, and Overton will be visiting team.

If a game three is needed, it’ll be Friday night at Atlanta, 30 minutes after game two.

Others

As we reported in the morning update, Troup, West Rusk, and Leverett’s Chapel all were all eliminated from the playoffs in the first round.

So Henderson, Overton and Tatum are the only three high school baseball teams in the ETBlitz.com coverage area remaining in the UIL playoffs.