Kilgore teams stumble in district games at Hallsville
Both teams will host Henderson on Friday
By MITCH LUCAS sports@kilgorenewsherald.com

Tuesday night was a bad night to be a Bulldog - at least, to be a Bulldog in Hallsville.

Both Kilgore High School diamond teams suffered District 12-4A defeats on Tuesday. The KHS baseball team lost to the Bobcats, 5-2, and the Lady Bulldogs were run-ruled and then some by Hallsville, 19-0, dropping their seventh straight game.

Both KHS teams host Henderson on Friday.

• Hallsville 5, Kilgore 2 (baseball): This was a matchup to determine the second-place team in 12-4A - both KHS and Hallsville were 3-1 headed into the game.

Since Hallsville won, Kilgore drops to 9-6 overall, and 3-2 in district play, tied with Marshall for third place.

In the loss at Hallsville last night, Kilgore had seven hits. Jared Alexander had a big night at the plate- he went 2-for-3 - and center fielder Andrew Ector had a double.

The Bulldogs scored in the top of the third (Alexander singled to score Chris Dudley), and added another in the top of the seventh. Pitcher Danny Sharp and Will Mixon struck out. Trevor Moon singled, stole second, and then scored on the double by Ector.

The Bulldogs have two games left in the first round: here at Driller Park against Henderson on Friday night at 6 p.m., and at Marshall on Tuesday. If Kilgore and Marshall both win on Friday, that means Tuesday's game is for sole possession of third place. Nacogdoches, the district leader, moved its record to 5-0 in district last night with an 8-0 blanking of Marshall.

Getting a win over both Henderson and Marshall - finishing the first round out with a pair of wins - would be great, KHS coach Jeff Blackstone said. But it's not a given. He talked about Henderson, saying the Lions are dangerous.

"They've got good pitching," Blackstone said. "They're kind of the sleeper that everybody thought would be in the mix. Things haven't worked out for them yet, but they're still very capable of beating you."

Against Hallsville, KHS committed three errors. "That was the big difference," Blackstone said. "They scored three runs with two outs."

Sharp went the distance, allowing eight hits, three walks, hit one batter and struck out six. Two of Hallsville's five runs were earned.

• Hallsville 19, Kilgore 0 (softball): Things went bad early-on for Kilgore, as the Lady Bulldogs went into a hole early, and couldn't climb out.

Meagan Youngblood had the only single for the Lady Bulldogs (4-14 overall, 0-7 in district play) in the top of the first inning. Hallsville pitcher Kayla Jackson, a legit Division I prospect for college, recorded 14 strikeouts, allowed just the one hit to Youngblood and walked no one over five innings. She's 12-4 on the season, as the LadyCats are now 7-0 in 12-4A play.

Also for Hallsville, Brittany Eitel had 5 RBI.

That completes the first round of district play for Kilgore, who will begin the second round here at home against Henderson on Friday night. The evening starts with the junior varsity, beginning at 4:30, varsity to follow. The JV district tournament is Saturday in Henderson, as well.

Next week, the Lady Bulldogs will be home twice: they'll host Marshall on Tuesday (the game was originally scheduled to be played at Marshall, but the earlier game between the two was moved there due to rain - Kilgore gets to host the rematch) and Whitehouse on Friday.