Lady 'Dogs get first win
Sabine girls take 8-4 win at Central Pollok
By MITCH LUCAS sports@kilgorenewsherald.com

After stumbling out of the gate in the first five games, the Kilgore High School softball team took a major step on Tuesday night, picking up their first win of the season.

And Sabine High School's softball squad won, too, beating Central Pollok, 8-4.

• Kilgore 6, Mineola 3: Kilgore traveled to Mineola on Tuesday and came home with its first win of 2008, a 6-3 victory that had the Lady Bulldogs whooping and hollering upon their return to town last night.

"We had 13 hits to their nine," second-year head coach Cassie Newell said. "That's the first time this season we've out-hit someone. We only committed three errors, which was huge, considering in our first game, we had 13. I was proud of our team. I thought everybody played pretty well. It's good to get our first win."

Meagan Youngblood was the pitcher of record for KHS (1-5) for the entire contest. Youngblood struck out five Mineola batters, and helped herself a little by hitting a single and a triple.

Kilgore scored two runs in the top of the first inning, three in the third inning, and one in the sixth. The game was tied at two after the first inning, but Kilgore never trailed. Mineola didn't score again until near the end of the game.

For KHS, Brianna Sanders had two singles, scored twice and had a stolen base. Skye Wyatt had a double and scored a run.

Shae Morgan, a senior coming over from the basketball team, had a single and a stolen base. Summer Williams had two singles, a stolen base and scored a run. Jalissa Baggett had a single, and catcher Alyssa McKinney had two of them.

Yamika Smith, also coming over from basketball, had a stolen base as a courtesy runner. And Alexis Gipson and Lilly Gipson each had singles for the Lady Bulldogs.

The varsity girls are off this weekend, and will visit Eustace on Tuesday afternoon, beginning with junior varsity at 5 p.m. Next weekend, the Lady 'Dogs will play in the annual White Oak tournament. Kilgore begins the tournament, ironically, with Eustace on Thursday, Feb. 28 at 10 a.m. Kilgore begins District 12-4A play on March 3 at Henderson. The Lady Bulldogs play the remainder of their non-district schedule on the road - they're not back home at Stream-Flo Field until a March 7 game against Marshall.

• Kilgore 6, Mineola 1 (junior varsity): The JV Lady 'Dogs won, too, moving their record this year to 2-0.

Megan Harvey had a triple for Kilgore, and Kayla Harvey had two singles.

Kilgore's JV plays in a tournament in Longview at Leer Park (near the Longview Skateplex) this weekend. They open the tournament on Friday at 3 p.m. against Tatum, then turn right around at 5 p.m. and play Rusk. The JV tournament will continue on Saturday.

• Sabine 8, Central Pollok 4: Sandy James struck out nine CP batters for Sabine Tuesday night, as the Lady Cardinals picked up another win.

The Lady Cardinals scored four runs in the top of the second inning, then saw hometeam CP rally and score four of their own. But with good defense behind her, James threw a shutout the rest of the way, and Sabine scattered four hits in the remaining five innings for the victory.

Freshman catcher Janell De- Freece had a huge game, going 3-for-4 at the plate with a double, two singles and a pair of RBI. Cassie Headley and Lindsey Bryce, both sophomores, each went 2-for-4 - Headley had two singles and 2 RBI, and Bryce had two singles.

Chelsea Headley, Alex Easley, and Cortnee Ryan each went 1- for-4 - senior Headley had a single and a stolen base; Easley, a junior, had a single, a stolen base and an RBI; and Ryan, also a junior, had a single and 2 RBI.

Shayla Gossett went 1-for-3 with a single, and Kendra Whitehead went 1-for-2 with a single and an RBI.

Sabine's JV squad will also be in the JV tournament at Longview's Lear Park this weekend. Sabine's varsity is off this weekend and will play again Tuesday at home against Henderson, a 4:30 p.m. JV game start, with varsity to follow.