KILGORE HIGH SCHOOL

LONGVIEW -It was an eventful trip here to Longview on Tuesday night for both Kilgore High School diamond teams, which both returned home with a victory.

Kilgore High's baseball team defeated Pine Tree, 7-4, after taking a big lead early, allowing Pine Tree to tie the game, and then scoring three runs late to grab the victory. The KHS softball squad also took a big lead, thanks to another big game by catcher Shelby Savony, and beat the Lady Pirates, 7-3.

Both Kilgore teams will host Hallsville on Friday night. The girls, which have no junior varsity team, will start at 6 p.m. The boys' JV team will host Hallsville at 4 p.m., and then varsity will follow, likely around 7 p.m.

Kilgore 7, PT 3 (softball)

Savony continued her tear through District 17-4A, getting two more home runs on Tuesday night and finishing 3-for-4 at the plate with 5 RBI to give KHS a 5-0 lead it would not relinquish.

In the last two games, Savony has four home runs and 10 RBI. This season, the junior has eight home runs.

The Lady Bulldogs moved to 10-2 overall this season with the victory, and are 5-0 and alone in first place in District 17-4A play.

Mackenzie Sharp (7-2) went the distance on the mound for the Lady Bulldogs, striking out five and allowing six hits and a pair of walks. For the season, she's got 98 strikeouts, so if she pitches against Hallsville Friday, she'll likely go over that 100-K mark. Morgan Bassett took the loss for PT (7-10-2 overall, 1-4 against district competition), also going the distance. Bassett struck out 10 in the defeat.

Kilgore, coached by Kasey Polk, has wins over PT, Marshall, Jacksonville, Henderson and Nacogdoches. They've yet to face Hallsville and Whitehouse in the first round of play. KHS will hope for another big night Friday from Savony, who is 5-of-6 at the plate with three home runs in two games at Stream-Flo Field. Kilgore 7, PT 4 (baseball)

It seems like bizarre things often happen when Kilgore visits PT for baseball -things like big leads suddenly becoming tie games.

That happened again at PTHS last night. The Bulldogs sprinted out to a 3-0 lead, led 41 at one point, and the Pirates rallied to tie the contest at 4-all.

Kilgore (11-4 overall, 3-0 in district play) put together more offense late, though, and kept its district record unblemished.

Tied at 4 in the top of the seventh inning, the Bulldogs got a single from pitcher Casey Whitmer to begin the inning. Corey Teague was put in to courtesy run for Whitmer by coach Tim Harkrider, and Teague moved to second on a beautiful bunt by catcher Jered Price, who was thrown out at first base.

KHS first baseman Kyle Shipp then delivered what might have been the biggest hit of the night, a single that scored Teague. PT pitcher Brian Shore managed to strike out Chase Patterson, but left fielder Shea Calico singled, moving Shipp over, too, and then right fielder Eddie Jones singled, too, scoring Shipp and Paul Springer, who was running for Calico.

Whitmer, who was hitting as high as 91 miles per hour on the night, struck out three PT batters in the bottom of the seventh to seal the win for the Bulldogs, who were tied with Hallsville atop the district standings headed into Tuesday's action.

Whitmer had a good night, overall, striking out 15. He went the distance, and got the win. Shore took the loss for the Pirates.

KHS got a run early when Price singled, and then Shipp hit a long single to score Austin Honeycutt (running for Price). The Bulldogs took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second. Whitmer doubled to lead off, and Price singled. Whitmer scored on a wild pitch, and then Patterson singled to score Honeycutt, again running for Price.

Zane Herndon had an RBI triple for PT in the bottom of the third, and the Pirates got three runs in the bottom of the fifth on a 3 RBI triple hit by left fielder Max Standefor before KHS righted the ship.