Published: July 10, 2007 02:02 am      

Texas Teen-Age Baseball

Day One Roundup

Junior Roundup

BLOOMING GROVE — The Mildred Longhorns were perfect in their opening game of the District 2 tournament against Price Distributing of Ennis.

Almost.

The Longhorns beat Price Distributing, 13-1, in the first game of the Texas Teen-Age Baseball tournament at Blooming Grove. Mildred had eight hits and took advantage of 10 walks to run-rule Price and advance to the second round of the winner’s bracket, where it will play the winner of the Athens Reds and Ferris Warriors game.

Despite the score, coach Bob Pritchett wasn’t completely satisfied.

“We got to work a little bit more on our baserunning, that cost us a few outs,” Pritchett said. “But overall we had good pitching and did a good job at the plate.”

Zach Thomas, cousin of University of Texas signee Stayton Thomas, went four innings giving up one run on one hit and five strikeouts. Thomas struggled at times with his control, hitting four batters and walking three more.

“Zach was good, he made some mistakes — which he knew — I didn’t have to tell him,” Pritchett said. “I think he was mentally strong to come right back and not let it bother him.”

Austin Melton, a pick-up player from Blooming Grove, relieved Thomas in the fifth and allowed a hit before retiring the final three batters.

Melton did more damage at the plate where he was 3-for-3 with a triple and two RBI.

“I’ve coached Austin a lot over the years,” Pritchett said. “We were lucky to get him.”

All nine starters reached base in the game and five players had at least one hit. Along with Melton, 2007 All-Golden Circle Newcomer of the Year Miles Weaver had a multi-hit game going 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI.

American Legion 2, Dawson Bulldogs 0

A third-inning error and an outstanding performance by American Legion pitcher Nathan Dixon stopped Dawson from getting a first-round win, Monday in Blooming Grove.

The Bulldogs lost to the team from Ennis, 2-0, in the first game of the District 2 Junior tournament.

Dixon pitched a one-hitter, but the game stayed relatively close, thanks to Bulldogs pitchers Alex Shaw and Scott Ackley, a pickup from Blooming Grove.

“Both of my pitchers did pretty good,” coach Brett McCrory said. “We made a couple of errors that cost us the game.”

Legion scored a run in the third after an error by Dawson’s second baseman let a runner get into scoring position.

Legion added another in the fourth inning.

The Bulldogs had a few chances to score late in the game, but Dixon them off. He finished the game with eight strikeouts.

Nick Warren was the only Dawson player to get a hit.

“I tell them every game to come out ready to play and we didn’t do it,” McCrory said. “We’ll see what kind of team we are (today.)”

Dawson will face the loser of today’s 6 p.m. game between the Longhorns and the Athens Reds.



Freshman

Red Wings soar to win over Van

Blooming Grove got off to a good start at the District 11 Freshman tournament Monday.

The Red Wings beat the Van Vandals, 15-2, to advance to the second round of the winner’s bracket where they’ll play the winner of Tuesday’s Grand Saline Longhorns and Athens Giants game.

For Blooming Grove, it was just another game with double-digit runs.

“We’re playing great defense and the bats are talking. They’re saying, ‘RBI,’” coach Richard Conger said. “Our boys are batting the ball well.”

The Red Wings had 18 hits in the rout. All of the starters got a hit and the Blooming Grove pitchers needed only 37 pitches in four innings of work.

The Red Wings finished second to Dawson in the regular season, but the Bulldogs lost to Grand Saline in the first round, 10-4.



Senior Midget Roundup

Mudcats rout the Astros

Missing two of its top four pitchers didn’t slow the Mildred Mudcats down.

The Mudcats run-ruled the Athens Astros, 16-2, in four innings in their first game in the District 12 Senior Midget tournament.

Two of Mildred’s players are in Oklahoma playing for a national championship in select ball.

“We got a bunch of walks and a bunch of big hits and we played flawlessly on defense,” coach Kirby Hill said. “The other kids stepped up.”

Mason Griffin picked up the win and did what Hill called “a heck of a job.”

Hill was also proud of catcher Andrew Hill, who allowed one passed ball, and Justin Gray, who fielded all six balls that were hit toward him.

Wortham Crush 10, Mabank Panthers 5

The Wortham Crush also won its first game of the tournament, beating the Mabank Panthers 10-5.

The Panthers defeated the Blooming Grove Red Wings for their first game, but the Crush took revenge for their fellow Richland Chambers team.

“We did real good,” coach Tad Dunnahoe said. “Probably the best we’ve played all year.”



Machine Pitch

Longhorns upset Rice

They may not have known it, but the Mildred Longhorns did what no other team could do this season: beat the Rice Red Sox.

The Longhorns beat Rice, 5-3, to advance to the championship round of the District 8 Machine Pitch tournament at Blooming Grove, Monday. The Red Sox came into the tournament 13-0 and won their first round game 14-6 over Dawson.

Despite the win, Rice coach Greg Barlow said his team didn’t perform as well as it had during the regular season in the first round game.

Mildred lost to the Red Sox in the regular season, but played them close. On Monday, it was defense that allowed the Longhorns to upset Rice.

“Our guys performed well,” assistant coach Justin Crittenden said. “They played defense tonight and got crucial hits in the right spots.”

Mildred will play the winner of the Rice-Dawson game at 8 p.m today. Whichever team wins will have to beat the Longhorns twice.

Despite their accomplishment, many of the players weren’t aware they had spoiled Rice’s perfect season.

“They were pretty excited,” Crittenden said. “They knew that if they win one more they go to state, but they didn’t know that (the Red Sox) were undefeated.”



T-Ball Roundup

Wortham tops the Bulldogs

It wasn’t the end of the tournament for the Dawson Bulldogs, but many players on the T-Ball team acted that way Monday.

The Bulldogs lost 35-29 to the Wortham Warriors in their opening game of the District 7 Texas Teen-Age Baseball tournament in Athens.

“One kid was crying, ‘We lost the trophy,’” coach Tracie Horner said. “I said, ‘No, we haven’t lost the trophy.’

“It was a hard game for them.”

It’s understandable that the kids would take it hard. At one time in the game, the Bulldogs held a seven-run lead. The game was tied going into the final inning.

Despite being in the same league during the regular season, the two teams had not met before Monday’s playoff game. Rain had canceled the previous matchup.

The Bulldogs will play their next game Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Chandler Longhorns 29, Mildred Gators 24

The Mildred Gators struggled in their first-round game, losing to the Chandler Longhorns, 29-24, in Athens.

“We had lots of errors,” coach Randy Thomas said. “You could tell we weren’t able to practice because of the rain.”

The Gators will play the loser of today’s game between the Chandler Indians and the Mabank Longhorns on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

“It was just one of those games,” Thomas said. “Maybe we’ll come back and do it better next time.”