District tourneys ending, but state tourneys on horizon

District tournaments are drawing to a close for Kilgore Boys Baseball Association all-star teams, but many of them will continue on in state tournaments.

The 13-year-olds and 14-year-olds both have already qualified for their state tournaments (see below), and the 15-16 year-olds did so by finishing second in their district tournament Monday night. The 1112 year-olds are still playing in Palestine, and are unbeaten so far.

The KBBA 15-16 year-old all-stars lost to Marshall Monday, 7-3, but it was a loss in the finals, meaning the team finished second in the tournament, qualifying them for the state tournament for that age division, to be played in Paris beginning next weekend. Kilgore will play Splendora at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 15.

The 15-16 year-old all-stars are Jared Alexander, Timothy Boaze, Sanders, Andrew Ector, Ryan Heimer, Chris Dudley, Justin Roberts, Nick Sullivan, Brandon Murphy, Trevor Moon, Javarri Kelly, McDougal, Sharpe, and Steven McBryde.

Donny Heimer and Louis Kelly are coaching the team with Boaze.

The team won its first tourney game over Carthage, then lost to Marshall, 10-3, on Friday. They bounced back with a pair of wins, beating White Oak 7-1 and then Longview, 8-6, on Saturday. Then came the 7-3 loss to Marshall Monday.

Kilgore, coached by Tim Boaze, scored all three of its runs in the fifth inning. Xavian Sanders and Dillon McDougal each scored when they were hit by pitches, and Danny Sharpe had a single and an RBI and scored in the inning.

Marshall came right back, though, and scored two runs in the sixth to put the game away. Sharpe went the distance on the mound, all six innings.

"All of our pitchers did very well in the tournament," Boaze said.

Kelly had a double; Dudley had a double; and Heimer, Tim Boaze and Sharpe each had singles.

In the game against White Oak, Sanders, Kelly, Sharpe, Dudley, Boaze and Heimer each had a hit and an RBI. Boaze pitched the first three innings, followed by McDougal, and then Sanders, who closed.

In the game against Longview, Boaze started and went two innings, followed by McDougal, and Sharpe closed. Kelly had a hit, Dudley had a 2 RBI triple, Boaze had an RBI double and a sacrifice for an RBI, and Moon had a single, and made a spectacular diving catch in center field.

 11-12 year-olds: The 11-12 year-old all-stars, coached by Mark Dickey, Joe Stevenson and Ken Brisendine, have seen their tournament plagued by rain. The tournament is being played in Palestine.

Kilgore is unbeaten so far. They play tonight at 7 p.m. against the home team, Palestine. If Kilgore wins tonight, they are in the championship, to be played tomorrow night.

Kilgore defeated Jacksonville, 4-3, on Monday night, then beat Palestine 6-1 Tuesday. Dylan Jordan hit a three-run home run in Tuesday's win.

Members of the 11-12 year-old all-stars are Colton Stephenson, Jerrick Massenburg, Kaleb Brisendine, Matthew Dickey, Ryan Dixon, Robert Poland, Eric Plaisance, Deontre Williams, Mason Nestleroad, Zane Yarborough, Nathan Mendenhall, Jeremy Riddles and Jordan. D'Quayvia Brewster has joined the team, too, due to an injury to Mendenhall.

 14-year-olds: Playing their district tournament here at the Harris Street baseball complex, coach Kelvin Darden's 14-year-old KBBA allstars suffered an early loss, but bounced back with a win.

Darden's team is in a dogfight in the district tournament. There are three teams in the tournament, and all three have a win and a loss. Darden's team is off tonight and should play at 6 p.m. tomorrow night against tonight's winner.

Because the 14-year-old district tournament has only three teams - and the top three teams go to the state tournament - Kilgore's team has already qualified for state, which begins in Jacksonville next weekend. Obviously, all three of the teams in the district tournament would love to have the advantage of being able to say they are the district champs headed into the state event.

Members of Darden's 14-year-old all-star squad are Mishaud Austin, Josh Bailey, Eric Bullard, Telvin Darden, Nick Gaut, Tye Gossage, Trace Huffman, Braylon McCarty, Scott Osburn, Hayden Patterson, Brandon Terry, and Garrett Williamson.

Chris Williamson and Chris Terry are helping Darden coach the 14's.

 13-year-olds: Coach Brad Brown's 13-year-old all-stars also played their tournament here over the weekend and also have qualified for their state tournament, to be played in Splendora next weekend - they play Livingston at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

The last loss for the 13's was courtesy of a late three-run home run.

The KBBA 13-year-olds' tournament was just a three-team tournament (Hallsville and Longview were the other two teams).

The 13-year-olds are Agustin Andrade, Cameron Brown, Cody Dixon, Breon Ector, Colin Hampton, Phadarian Harper, Christopher Kirk, Justin Landeche, Brandon Lea, Dylan Leach, Dakota Shook and Gerron Walker.

Joining Brown coaching the team are Glenn Lea and Paul Dixon.

 9-10 year-olds: Kilgore's 9-10 year-old squad was playing its tournament in Jacksonville, but was eliminated Monday night with a 7-0 loss to Palestine.

The 9-10 year-old KBBA all-stars this year were elerino Aguilar, Jake Brantley, Kyle Callens, Austin Clark, Corbyn Fincher, Weston Johnson, Jack Johnston, Hunter McMorries, Preston Morris, Jeffery Platt, Ryan Reinert, Sam Toon, and Clay White.

The team was coached by Bryan Johnston, Dean Fincher and Scott Clark.

Also, the 7-8 year-old state tournament is to be played in Kilgore at the Harris Street park next weekend.

Kilgore has a team in that tournament - the 7-8 year-old KBBA American squad, coached by Kevin Tinney. Members of that team are Zach Dent, Garrett Wilkerson, Mason Gaithright, Chris Poe, Kevin

Tinney, Michael Henderson, Cade Clark, Benden Bingham, Ty Cundiff, Josh Pollick, Zach Carter and A.J. Henson. +