Polk County Sports

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Jaycie Blankenbaker slides in safe at third base.

By Brian Besch
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Big Sandy softball was able to break a streak of bad luck Tuesday, securing a 4-3 victory over the Lady Oilers of West Hardin.

“We’ve lost four games leading up to this by a total of six runs,” Big Sandy coach Mark Young said of the team’s past two weeks. “We just couldn’t pull it out, but you just never know what’s going to happen. The girls were excited for this game and knew the depth and seriousness of it.”

West Hardin got the scoring started in Dallardsville with a double in the third inning, then a bunt that was overthrown at first base for a 1-0 advantage.

Big Sandy answered in the bottom half with Jaycie Blankenbaker singling, and Anastasia Chitty doing the same. Shelly Wetherford brought them both home with a two-run double to give the Lady Cats their first lead.

A walk, passed ball and error on a stolen base tied the game at 2-2 for West Hardin in the top of the fourth.

In the fifth, a single and passed ball put a runner in scoring position. The Big Sandy defense had trouble with a bunt, attempting to throw to first and then home, getting neither runner. The Lady Oilers were back in front at 3-2.

Yaheira Battise led off the sixth with a base hit to left. She would advance all the way to home on two passed balls and an overthrow at third to tie it at three apiece. With a runner on, Lexi Joe Richardson hit into a fielder’s choice and Haleigh Brown singled. Paige Cox bunted and a wild throw at third allowed Big Sandy to move ahead for good at 4-3.

“We had the bottom of our lineup just come through,” Young said. “The top of our lineup went 1-for-12 today, and it’s been flipped. Our bottom has done nothing in the past two weeks, but they came through today. This is one of those things where it was a total team effort.”

Chitty, the team’s lone senior playing her final home game, pitched the entire contest. She retired the Lady Oilers in order in the seventh to preserve the one-run win.

It ends a string of four consecutive one- or two-run losses for Big Sandy – games the coaching staff would like to have back.

“Three out of four for absolute sure,” Young said of the missed opportunities. “We had Evadale 9-1 and they scored 10 runs to win it. You have to finish the games and play it out until the last out, and thankfully, we did that today.”

Big Sandy is now 9-4 in district. Evadale holds the top spot, while West Hardin Deweyville and Big Sandy are fighting for playoff seeding.

“We are in third right now, and if there is some shake up between one and two, we could be in a two-way tie for second if we win next Monday against this team. We started out with 23 girls, and we’ve had some quit, a few fail, and one for personal reasons had to stop. I’ve got girls out there that wouldn’t have seen the field if not for that. That has been tough, because with these close games, there is no doubt we would have won them.”

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Onalaska will try to maintain first place versus Coldspring this week. photo by Clay Lilley

By Clay Lilley
Enterprise contributor

Onalaska baseball played a pivotal series against the Tarkington Longhorns, dropping game one 9-5 Tuesday night in Onalaska.

Tarkington came out of the gate hitting against Onalaska starting pitcher Thad Lilley. They scored three runs in the top of the first inning on a walk, double, error, and two singles.

Onalaska bounced back in the bottom of the inning on a double by Lilley and RBI-single from Patrick Roth. The score was 3-1 after the first.

The Longhorns added another run in the top of the fifth, giving them a 4-1 lead. The Wildcats got things going in the bottom of the fifth inning with a two-out rally. Lilley picked up an RBI, scoring Grant Thornton from third base. Then, with Conner Ruiz on third and Lilley on second, Lucas Jackson smoked a line drive down the right-field line, scoring both baserunners, tying the game 4-4.

In the top of the sixth inning with Lilley still on the mound, the Wildcats got two quick outs, but the starter fatigued. Back-to-back walks and a single loaded the bags for the Longhorns, followed by a double to right-center, clearing the bases for a 7-4 Tarkington lead.

In the bottom half of the inning, Onalaska added another run on an RBI-single to left field by Ruiz, making the score 7-5 after the sixth.

Wildcat coach Cody Pinkert changed pitchers, bringing in Brody Hoover to toss the seventh for Onalaska. The Longhorn bats got to him as well, scoring two more runs on a leadoff double, walk, and single to right. The Wildcats tried to rally in the bottom half of the seventh with a couple of hits, but couldn’t continue the momentum.

Patrick Roth went 2-for-4 with an RBI, Brayden Topkins was 2-for-4 and scored a run, Thad Lilley went 1-for-4 with a double, RBI, scored two runs, and stole a base. Lucas Jackson went 1-for-3 with a two-RBI double, a walk, and a stolen base.

The two teams were back at it Friday night for game two. Another disappointing loss for the Wildcats ended at 2-0. The pitching for both teams was excellent. Pinkert started Topkins for the Wildcats, who threw four innings, allowing only two runs on four hits and two walks, while striking out three. Jarrett Purkerson pitched two scoreless innings for the Wildcats, giving up only two hits and struck out two. Tarkington starter Cam Roberts threw a complete game shutout, with just four hits and a walk. He struck out 10 Wildcats.

Scoreless until the bottom of the third, the Longhorns got a bloop single to left field with two outs. Then, a walk, hit-by-pitch, and single to center field had the Wildcats trailing 2-0.

Onalaska couldn’t get things going with their bats, but did make a few great plays defensively. In the fourth, they turned a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning, and two more highlight-reel plays in the fifth. Catcher Lilley gunned down a runner attempting to steal second base, and two pitches later, Wyatt Reyes made a diving catch on a line drive hit to left field.

With the losses, there is now a three-way tie for first place in District 23-3A. Onalaska, Anderson-Shiro and Tarkington all hold a 7-2 mark with five games remaining for each. The Wildcats face the Coldspring Trojans this week, with Friday’s match in San Jacinto County.

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Corinne Henderson takes a swing.

By Brian Besch
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The Livingston offense exploded for 14 runs over the final two innings of Tuesday afternoon’s game, run ruling Splendora 16-6 in the fifth.

Down 3-0 from an error and RBI-double, Corinne Henderson led Livingston off in the second inning with a walk. Breonna Niederhofer singled and advanced to second on the throw home. Bailey Goodson grounded into a sacrifice that plated the Lady Lions’ first run. Baylee Yantes did the same to cut the deficit to 3-2 after two innings.

Two errors put Lady Cats on the corners in a fourth inning that Livingston should have been out of scoreless. A fielder’s choice brought home Splendora’s fourth run of the game.

“It was a weird day for us at first,” Livingston coach Heather Mosser said of the early start time due to weather. “I have been stressing all day about the weather and I think it just took us a second to get started.

Freshman catcher Goodson started the bottom of the fourth with a base hit. A wild pitch, then pop fly off the bat of Yantes got her to third base with just one out. Knighton made the score 4-3 with an RBI-single. Brianna Nelson reached on an error to extend the inning. Shelby Dickerson slapped a single into the gap, scoring both runs, but two throwing errors allowed Dickerson to circle the bases and give the Lady Lions a 6-4 lead.

Splendora scored a run and had the bases loaded with no one out when Knighton came on to relieve pitcher Allison Lytle in the fifth. A strikeout and force out at home made it look like she’d escape without further damage, but a full-count walk tied the game at six.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Livingston offense would decide the outcome. Henderson singled and swiped a bag. Yantes later doubled in two runs to put Livingston back up at 8-6. Knighton reached on error, scoring another. Nelson tripled to bring in Knighton and Lytle also reached on error, giving the Lady Lions an 11-6 advantage. Two more Splendora errors created two more runs, Goodson drove in two with a base hit, and Livingston completed the game with another crossing home for the run rule.

“Once we get rolling at the plate, it is kind of hard to stop us at times. I’m confident that my team is going to do that,” Mosser said of scoring 14 runs over the fourth and fifth innings. “Even though we started off a little slow and sluggish, our offense is going to step up at any moment.”

The team is now sitting in second place at 8-2 in district. The only losses have been to the state’s top-ranked team in Liberty.

“I think that is our 15th win (overall) on the season, so we are having a great season right now,” the coach said. “These kids have bought in. They have worked and have taken what I have given them and put it to work. This is my third year here, so we should see some improvement. They are really hungry. We have been beaten a lot in the past couple of years. They are hungry for this, and I don’t even have to say much to them about that. They want it, and when you get a full team in that mindset, they will go get it. I have some senior leadership and I have some freshmen who have stepped up, so we have a great mix.”

The Lady Lions will try to continue the positive momentum Friday when they take on Hargrave in Huffman.

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Three Goodrich track and field athletes will move on to regionals after their performance at the area meet. Brianaly Resendez (center in picture) took fourth place in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:48.31. Joel Resendez (right) was a third place finisher in the mile run with a time of 5:12.98, and was fourth in the 800 at 2:18.63. Eliseo Garzon (left)was fourth in the mile with a 5:15.41 time and third in the two-mile at 11:38.00.