Kilgore's youngest 'ballers out of tourney

The 9-and-10 year-old Kilgore Boys Baseball Association National League all-stars recently completed their district tournament. Pictured (bottom row, from left): Elijah Williams, Cooper Rawls, A.J. Henson, Rodney Coleman, Jax Brantley, and Collin Pippen. Back row (from left): assistant coach Vic Williams, Jacob Mobbs, Cole Wood, Julie Ann Rawls, head coach Harry Rawls, Tyler Faye, Zach Dent, Michael Hampton and assistant coach Joey Pippen. Several teams won't begin their state tournaments until next week, but for two Kilgore Boys Baseball Association teams, the state pursuit began -- and ended -- in Carthage this week.

The 5-and-6 T-ball all-stars and the 7-and-8 National League allstars both started their state tournaments in Carthage on Saturday.

The 5-and-6 year-old T-ball allstars won their first game, 18-17, over Arp on Saturday, then rain played with their schedule on Sunday, facing Mount Pleasant. The Tballers were behind in the third inning when officials stopped the game and ruled they would have to finish it Monday.

The Orioles, who play in the Kilgore Boys Baseball Association's 13-and-14 year-old division, won the age group's championship this year. The team was coached by Scott Clark, Gerad Waits, and Eric Bullard, and team members are Nolan Grush, Austin Bullard, Austin Clark, Celerino Aquilar, Caleb Wood, Austin Waits, Jake Jordan, Kyle Callens, Zack Armitage, Michael Carver and Preston Morris. Congratulations, guys! Monday evening, Kilgore lost 16-7 and drew a 10:15 a.m. Tuesday start against Diboll.

But Tuesday wasn't much better for the Kilgore t-ballers than Monday was. Diboll downed Kilgore 20-12.

This year's T-ball all-stars are A.J. Smith, Zach Porter, Thomas Hattaway, Jack Bolding, Dalton McElyea, Kaylon Ray, Kyle Wheeler, Dalton Chanler, Cannon Copeland, Spencer Thompson, Cade Pippen and Donavan Adkins. They re coached by Joey Pippen, Kevin Tinney, Brian Porter, and Jeff Wheeler.

The 7-and-8 year-olds also played in Carthage, and as they did in their district tournament in Palestine, they gave their fans a little bit of a scare.

The boys lost their first game of the state tournament, 9-3, to Hallsville on Saturday morning, but came right back with a win on Sunday, rallying for a 12-5 victory over White Oak. It was eerily similar to the tournament in Palestine, with the team losing its first game, then coming back to win all five remaining games and the tournament.

Monday evening they lost 13-2 to Huntington and were eliminated from the tournament.

Members of the 7-and-8 year-old National League all-stars this year are Austin Hail, Payton Fyffe, Gus Witt, Garrett Davis, Jackson Walker, Chris Laroux, Thomas Gallant, Jayce McFarland, Colby Powe, Kaylon Jackson, Cameron Keel and Garrett Brown. They're coached by Shannon "Bubba" Keel, Dickie McFarland, Jeff Davis and

Tony Witt.

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A pair of all-star teams haven't even taken the field yet, but will do so this coming week, one of them right here at Driller Park.

Kilgore will host the 13-year-old Dixie Junior Boys State Tournament beginning Saturday and running through Thursday at Driller, and will enter a team in the tournament. Playing for Kilgore in that event will be Corbin Fincher, Samuel Toon, Clay White, Austin Bullard, Kyle Callens, Austin Clark, Nolan Grush, Weston Johnson, Benny Colbert, Preston Morris, Jake Brantley, Tyler Jones and A.J. Davis. They will be coached by Scott Clark, Gilbert Lopez and Dean Fincher.

Another team playing next week will be the Dixie Pre-Majors, taking part in a tournament in Paris. The team earned a bye and won't play until Sunday against a team to be determined.

Members of the Kilgore team for that tournament will be Cameron Brown, Breon Ector, Jared Lusk, Matthew Dickey, Riley Toler, Ryan Dixon, Colton Slayter, Jerrick Massenburg, Mason Nestleroad, Deontre Williams, and Brandon Lee. Coaching the team will be Brad Brown, Mark Dickey and Joey Lusk.

One other Kilgore team has already qualified for the state tournament. That's the 15-19 year-old Dixie Majors team, which recently finished in second place in a tournament in Marshall.

The team will play next week, and the roster is Nathan Mendenhall, Blake Elliott, Will Mixon, Timothy Boaze, Javarri Kelly, Xavian Sanders, Danny Sharpe, Nick Sullivan, Nick Gaut, Brandon Terry, Ryan Heimer, Andrew

Ector and Trace DeBerry. They'll be coached by Donny Heimer, Louis Kelly and Tim Boaze. If they win this tournament in Paris, they'll get to go to the 15-19 yearold Dixie Majors World Series in Charleston, S.C.