Mixed results for THS in face-off with Longview
TEXARKANA, Texas — Texas High left eight baserunners on against Longview, which was able to hang on for a 4-2 win in a District 15-5A baseball game Friday at Tiger Field.
The Lady Tiger softball team broke open a close game with a 5-run sixth inning to secure a 9-3 win over the Lady Lobos.
BASEBALL Longview 4, Texas High 2
Justin Beltran worked six innings of 5-hit ball, struck out nine, walked four and hit a batter to earn the win over the Tigers.
Gabe Flores gave up a pair of hits, had a strikeout and stranded one to pick up the save.
For Texas High in the first, Trey Lavender singled to right with one out, and Luke Smith and Nathan Steele added 2-out hits, Steele driving in Lavender to tie the score at 1 apiece.
The Tigers got two on with no outs in the second but couldn’t capitalize. THS stranded one in the fourth and two in the fifth as a running catch by the Lobo center fielder in deep left-center ended the inning.
Flores smashed a solo home run in the top of the first to give Longview the early lead.
In the third, Braden Nickel and Flores reached on backto-back one-out walks. Connor Cox drove in a run with a double, and Trent Bush’s sac fly made it 3-1 Lobos.
Steele worked through the fourth inning, when the Tiger defense stranded the bases loaded of Lobos.
Cox, who finished 3 for 3 with a double and RBI, singled to lead off the top of the fifth. Another hit put runners on the corners, and a 6-4-3 double play allowed Cox to score before a strikeout ended the inning.
Zane Dodson walked to start the bottom of the sixth. A one-out error allowed Dodson to get to third and put Colin Shelley on. A passed ball scored Dodson and sent pinch-runner Crockett White to second. After another walk, a wild pitch put both runners in scoring position.
Beltran struck out the next two batters to preserve the 4-2 advantage.
Jackson Halter singled to start the bottom of the seventh, and Smith doubled. But Halter was thrown out at the dish, trying to score on the hit, and Smith was at third as the game ended. Smith and Halter each had two hits to lead the Tigers.
SOFTBALL
Texas High 9, Longview 3
The Lady Tigers rallied late to put the game away.
Texas High responded to Longview cutting its deficit to one run by plating five of its own to build a 6-run lead in the bottom of the sixth.
With two outs, Ashanti Northcross legged out a bunt single, and Valeria Perez’s bunt was thrown past first for an error. Lauren Allred ripped a ground ball single to center to score Northcross, Mollie Fisher followed with a single, Emma Prince walked to load the bases, and Vanessa Perez dropped in a double to center, clearing the bags.
The Tigers broke onto the scoreboard first after Vanessa Perez grounded a 1-out single to center field. She stole second base and took third on a pitch in the dirt.
With two outs, a throw to first pulled the first baseman off the bag, and an initial out call was overturned, allowing Perez to score.
Between third-inning infield singles by Longview’s KeAdriah Lister and Ciarrianne Fuller, a throwing error sent Lister racing home from first and Reagan Fleet to third. Fleet scored for a 2-1 Lobo lead on Fuller’s hit.
In the bottom of the third, Northcross led off with a walk for the Tigers, and Valeria Perez beat out a bunt hit. Allred’s double over the center fielder’s head plated both runners to give Texas High a 3-2 lead, and Fisher lined a single to left to score Allred.
THS loaded the bases but didn’t manage to score in the fourth, and The Lobos got two on with one out in the top of the fourth but didn’t score. Longview also stranded a pair in the fifth.
Fleet doubled in Lister in the sixth, but the courtesy runner was thrown out at third to end the inning.
Olivia Huckabee picked up the pitching win in relief of Liz Smith. Huckabee threw 64 pitches over four innings, allowed four hits, one run, fanned three and issued no free passes. Smith lasted 3-plus innings, struck out four, walked one, hit one and allowed four hits and two unearned runs.
Allred was 3 for 4 with a double and three RBI, and Vanessa Perez was 2 for 4 with a double and three RBI.