Lady Bulldogs win again, pressing for playoff spot
Apr. 14—There's something to be said for heating up at the right time — maybe that's what the Kilgore High School softball team is doing.
The main thing they're doing is winning, and they got another one Friday night in Lindale, pulling off a surprise. On Lindale's senior night, after losing to Lindale a couple of weeks ago here in Kilgore, coach Cheyenne Kirkpatrick's Lady Bulldogs got it done, scoring three runs in the first inning to set the pace and then holding on late for a 6-5 win.
Kilgore's still in the hole, no question about it, but that win ties them with Lindale for the fourth — and final — playoff spot with just a handful of games remaining. Kilgore was to host Henderson on Tuesday, after the print deadline for this issue of the News Herald, and then visits Bullard on Friday, a 4:30 p.m. junior varsity start, with varsity after.
The Lady 'Dogs gave assistant coach Rafael Lebron a win on his birthday, and Kirkpatrick a win the day before hers.
But it wasn't easy. Kirkpatrick changed her defensive lineup prior to the game, and also told her players in order to win, to have any success, they HAD to clean up the errors.
"We've averaged five or six errors (this year) a game," Kirkpatrick said Saturday.
On Friday night, in the win at Lindale, the Lady Bulldogs had just one.
In the top of the first inning, Kilgore set the tone. Genna Cavanaugh singled, stole second, and went to third on an error by the shortstop. She scored on a triple by Bailey Hedges — you'll see that name again later, as well. That gave KHS a 1-0 lead.
Alyssa Whitington had an RBI single to score Hedges. Cailey Brown, who would go 3-for-3 in the game, followed with a single, and then Jordyn Hampton had yet another single. Kilgore led 3-0 at the middle of the first.
Kilgore walked the first batter in the bottom of the first, and she stole second, but when the ball was put back into play, KHS center fielder Jada Dennis threw her out at third.
Lindale managed a single, then a double, and got a run. But they hit to grounders to Hedges, and Kilgore was able to get out of the inning.
They singled, then doubled, and got a run. But two groundouts to Hedges got Kilgore out of the inning.
In the next couple of innings, Kilgore kept the pressure up, with hits by Jaycee Villanueva and Brown had another, too, but the score remained the same.
In the fifth, though, Kilgore finally broke through. Haylee Brown walked and went to second on a bunt laid down by Cavanaugh. Hedges hit another triple to score Brown, and then Villanueva hit yet another triple to score Hedges. Villanueva scored on wild pitch, and that gave the Lady Bulldogs a 6-1 lead before Lindale finally escaped the inning.
Lindale scored one in the fifth, and two more in the sixth to keep it close. Kilgore almost added another run in the seventh, when Cavanaugh and Hedges both walked, but Lindale got out of it. They couldn't, however, get another run, and tie the game, so Kilgore got out with the win.
Malia Dean, a freshman, pitched and won. She allowed nine hits.
