Cats drop district opener

Photo/Jim Jackson Whitehouse gets a runner out at home, but couldn't rally to beat Kilgore last week. The Bulldogs won 6-1.

The district season started last week for the Whitehouse varsity baseball team as they hosted Kilgore Tuesday at Wildcat Park. The story of the night would be pitching, but unfortunately for Whitehouse it would center around Bulldog ace Danny Sharpe, who went the distance for the Bulldogs in a 6- 1 win striking out 12 on the night.

The Wildcats would manage only 4 hits on the night, one each by Heath Mayo, Seth Cashion, Blake Simpson, and Grant Brandon. The Cats could only manage two scoring threats for the night. Cashion would walk to lead off the sixth inning and after Simpson and Brandon singled, he would score on a fielder's choice by Kevan House for the Wildcats' only run on the night.

The Bulldogs did all their damage via the long ball, scoring all six of their runs on three homers, two in the third inning and one in the fifth. Brandon worked the hill for the Cats getting the loss while Taylor Peterson worked the fifth and sixth innings in relief.

Things did not improve much as the Wildcats traveled to Jacksonville on Friday and fell short to the Indians 5-4. The story of the night again was lack of production at the plate as well as five miscues in the field that led to three unearned runs for the Tribe on the night.

The Cats had an early opportunity trailing 1-0 in the top of the third loading the bases with two outs but Simpson was called out on strikes to end the inning. The Cats would tie things up at 1-1 in the fourth as House doubled to right-center to score Matt Durst who had singled earlier in the inning.

The Indians wasted little time getting the lead back on a tworun homer in the bottom half of the four th to make it 3-1. Whitehouse got the lead back in the fifth 4-3. The inning star ted of f with Ryan Bell reaching on an error at third, followed by a single by Cashion before Simpson drove in Bell with a single to left center. Asher Williams scored on a steal of home and then Simpson later scored on a fielder's choice by Durst.

However, three miscues in the bottom of the sixth allowed two unearned runs for the Indians to give them the 5-4 win. Mayo got the loss on the mound for the Cats despite 11 strikeouts on the night.

The Cats return to action tonight as they play host to Hallsville at Wildcat Park with game time to start at 6 p.m.