Cats open season vs. Lee

Whitehouse beat Longview, 14-12, Tuesday night. Next up for the Cats is the Whitehouse Classic. Pictured, left to right, are (front) Michael South, Blake Turman, Chase West, Cody Brown, Banks Brandon, Ryan Bell, (second row) Ryan Miner, Seth Cashion, Brady Attaway, Caleb Toole, Evan Beaton, Grant Brandon and Heath Mayo. Not pictured is Kyndel Mangrum. Head coach is Daniel Robey, assisted by Scott McFadden.

The Whitehouse Wildcat varsity baseball team opened its 2007 season last Tuesday night against Robert E. Lee at Mike Carter Field.

The Wildcats got a chance to see just where they were early in the season against a solid Red Raider team, ranked #11 in the state in Class 5A.

The Red Raiders took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a lead off walk that advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and later scored on a single.

The game remained that way until the bottom half of the third as Lee moved four runners across the plate, three of those coming off of a two out, three run homer, making the score 5-0.

The Wildcats would mount a threat in the top of the fourth as Ryan Miner led off with a single, and then three batters later, Michael South advanced to first after being hit by a pitch, putting runners on first and second.

Seth Cashion took a 2-0 pitch and hit a line drive into right center scoring Miner. Cashion reached second as the throw came into third in an attempt to get South. After Heath Mayo worked a walk, the next batter struck out to end the inning.

Lee tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the fifth before Banks Brandon scored the final run for the Cats in the top half of the seventh on a ground out by Miner to finish the scoring at 8-2 in favor of Lee.

"I told the kids that although I hate to lose, I really felt good about the way we played tonight," said Coach Danny Robey. "The score is not an indication of how well we played. Ryan did a great job on the mound, and with the exception of the one pitch for the home run and us leaving some runners in scoring position, we had a shot at making this one a lot closer," stated Robey.