'Dogs get big win at Hallsville

A rare Saturday baseball game in District 12-4A was arguably the biggest game of the season to date for the Kilgore High School Bulldogs and Hallsville High School Bobcats.

And this week, to borrow terminology from "Smokey and the Bandit," it allows Kilgore to be the pursue-ee, not the pursu-er.

The Bulldogs, playing their second game in as many days, came out on top Saturday, beating Hallsville 4-3 to take the lead in the race for the final playoff spot in the district.

That race will be over if Kilgore (16-8 overall, 8-4 in district competition) can win tonight at home, a 6 p.m. start against Henderson. In fact, since Kilgore defeated Hallsville twice this season, the Bobcats are in effect two games behind KHS. If Kilgore wins either of its games this week (tonight at home against Henderson or at Marshall on Friday), the Bulldogs will go to the playoffs yet again, a fourth straight season, and this time under first-year head coach Jeff Blackstone.

Blackstone said this morning he was very proud of his team for standing tall on Saturday.

"It was a big win," he said. "It puts us down to needing to win one of the last two games. Our destiny's in our own hands."

Elsewhere around the district tonight, the No. 1 and No. 2 teams face off as Pine Tree, unbeaten in district play, hosts Nacogdoches - if the Pirates win, they officially wrap up the district championship. Hallsville will face Jacksonville, and the Bobcats need a win and a Kilgore loss to stay alive for the playoff race. Hallsville does still have to play Pine Tree, though, on Friday.

The other district game tonight pits Marshall against Whitehouse, the only game in the district tonight that doesn't have any bearing on the playoff race.

Thunderstorms are in the forecast for this evening. See the News Herald on Wednesday for either the game story, or for an update on when it might be played.

Saturday, the Bulldogs pinned their hopes on pitcher Danny Sharpe, and when they've done that this season, Sharpe has came through in the clutch. He did so again against Hallsville, and not just on the mound.

The sophomore had a pair of doubles and a single in the contest, and was a key part of a seventh inning scoring tally that allowed Kilgore to win the game.

In the seventh, with the game tied at 3, Sharpe doubled, and then his courtesy runner, Austin Honeycutt, did the rest. Honeycutt advanced to third base on a passed ball and scored on a single by second baseman Trace DeBerry.

Sharpe's teammate, Logan Chitwood, came in in the bottom of the seventh to the mound and shut down the Bobcats, finishing the game.

In addition to Sharpe's 3-for- 4 performance at the plate, he pitched six innings and didn't allow a hit after the third inning. Garrett Methvin took the loss for the Bobcats (17-7 overall, 7-5 in district play).

Kilgore scored early, going up 1-0 in the second inning. Trevor Moon, who had singled, scored on a grounder hit by shortstop Steven McBryde to give the Bulldogs an early advantage.

In the top of the third, Kilgore's offense came through again. Third baseman Chris Dudley and center fielder Jaron Shepherd both scored on an RBI single by catcher Jered Price.

The bottom of the third proved to be a breath-taker for the Bulldogs, as Hallsville tied the game. It remained so until the heroics by Sharpe, Honeycutt and DeBerry in the seventh.