Varsity goes 2-1 in tourney

The Whitehouse varsity baseball team played last weekend in the Caney Creek/ New Caney tournament. The Cats saw Mother Nature put a damper on the tournament opener by raining out their first game on Thursday night. That put Whitehouse playing their first game on Friday against Little Cypress.

The game proved to be entertaining as both teams battled through errors to see the lead change hands four different times before Little Cypress prevailed 8-7 in six innings due to a time shortened game.

The Wildcats pounded out 10 hits in the game and were paced by 2-4 performances by Ryan Bell, Matt Durst and Seth Cashion.

Grant Brandon started on the mound and Durst came into the game in the fourth in relief and wound up taking the loss. The Cats made four errors that proved to be costly down the stretch in a tight game.

The Cats would bounce back from a tough loss on Friday and pull off a 5-4 win over Northwest Christian Academy. NWCA got an early lead in the top of the first as the lead of f batter reached on an infield hit and eventually scored on a single to center field for the early 1-0 lead.

The Cats came back for two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning as the first three runners reached base before Durst hit into a double play but scored Heath Mayo from third.

Brandon then singled scoring Bell to give the Cats the 2-1 lead. The Cats pushed across two more runs in the second inning as Mayo singled and later scored as Bell reached on an error. Durst then drove in Cashion who had walked to push the lead to 4-1.

Meanwhile, Whitehouse starting pitcher, Mayo, worked out of jams in the next four innings to keep the Cats in the lead 4-2 headed into the top of the sixth. NWCA pulled things even in the sixth on two Whitehouse miscues to knot things at 4-4 headed into the seventh.

Conner Cashion came in for Mayo in the seventh and worked a scoreless seventh retiring three of the four batters he faced to keep the score tied headed into the bottom of the seventh. The inning started out with Mayo reaching on an error but neither Bell nor Cashion could move him into scoring position. Then Durst lifted a fly ball to right field that NWCA misplayed in the air, and Mayo, who was hustling at the crack of the bat and two outs, was able to come around and score the winning run.

The Cats then had to play back-to-back as they faced Livingston in the next game. Things started good for the Cats as they manufactured two runs in the top of the first. Mayo opened the game with a walk then stole second and scored on a single by Bell who went to second on the throw to the plate. Then Cashion hit a sacrifice fly to right moving Bell to third who scored on a ball hit to second by Durst who reached on an error.

The score stood at 3-1 headed into the top of the fourth when the Cats erupted for six runs on three walks, a sacrifice fly and the big blow coming from a double to right-center by Brandon to give the Cats a 9-1 lead. The game seemed to be in hand with two outs in the bottom of the fifth when Bell fielded a grounder at short and made the throw at first to Brandon for the final out. The runner was called safe because the umpire saw the runner beat the throw. The call shocked the Cats and they went onto to give up three runs to make the score 9-4.

Whitehouse then scored a run in the top of the seventh to make the final score 10-4 and give the Cats a hard earned win headed into their district opener. Brady Attaway worked the mound for Whitehouse and threw a solid game going the distance while striking out 5 and walking only 2 and giving up only 3 hits.

The Cats are in action tomorrow night in Jacksonville for their second district game following their home opener Tuesday night at Wildcat Park against Kilgore.