|
 |
Local teams take tourney titles
|
| By: Darrell Hamlett, Assistant Sports Editor |
March 14, 2004 |
|
 |
The Woodlands third baseman Shea Robin tags out Spring baserunner Matt Harughty in the bottom of the third inning as Harughty tried to advance on a groundout. (Staff photo by JERRY BAKER)
|
New Caney baseball wins the Montgomery Classic while The Woodlands takes top honors in Springs. Willis is also victorious at the Spring Woods tourney. Caney Creek falls in the title game of its own event while rain postpones Conroe's final tournament contest.
|
Using strong defense and solid pitching, the New Caney High School baseball team won the Montgomery Baseball Classic presented by Richie's Pharmacy on Saturday as the Eagles held off Huntsville 4-3 in the championship game.
"I was real pleased with the way we battled today," said NCHS coach Stu Musick. "We weren't real crisp but we competed hard and competed well. I'm proud of Michael Miller's performance on the mound. That was his best outing, by far, of the year. We also had some pretty good defense plays behind him."
Perhaps the biggest defensive play came with one out in the top of the seventh with the Eagles up 4-3. Huntsville's leadoff hitter Michael Lang struck a bullet down the third base line, but Brent Turner dove and backhanded it on the line and then got up and threw to first for a bang-bang play to get the second out.
Earlier in the fifth inning, the Hornets had just tied the game at 2-2 and still had a runner on second when Allen Mitchell came through with a big defensive stop. The New Caney second baseman backhanded a hard hit ball behind the second base bag and then fired over to first to get the final out of the inning and prevent the Hornets from taking the lead.
New Caney would go up for good in the bottom of the fifth as they plated two runs.
The Eagles then turned to Miller to shut down Huntsville the rest of the way. The pitcher responded as he went the distance, striking out six and allowing just one earned run to even his season record at 1-1.
At the plate, Turner went 3-for-3 with a stolen base and two RBIs. Miller helped himself out with two singles and an RBI while Michael Ross added a double.
Saturday's victory was the third straight for New Caney after the Eagles lost to Montgomery in their opening game of the tournament.
"I was real pleased with the way we responded after Thursday night," said Musick. "I told the kids after the game, the great thing about baseball is you get to come back and play tomorrow."
New Caney, now 6-8, will take most of next week off for spring break. On Friday, the Eagles will return to the diamond at Waller for a doubleheader scheduled for 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Highlanders Take Spring Crown
The Woodlands High School baseball team won two more games Saturday to claim the crown at the Spring Tournament.
The Highlanders opened up by beating District 15-5A rival Spring 6-5 to finish their pool play. Matt Ghigna and John Hopkins each homered for TWHS. Kyle Walker came on in relief for starter Greg Meinzer in the fourth and struck out four to get the win and improve to 3-0 on the year.
In the championship game, The Woodlands cruised past Milby 11-1. Danny Lehmann smashed his fourth home run of the year while Wayne Hrozek added a triple and David Macias a double. On the mound, Ian Stowe started and got the win to move to 1-0.
The Highlanders are now 14-1 on the season and open District 15-5A play on Tuesday as they host Klein Collins at 7 p.m.
Willis 14, Spring Woods 1
In the final game of the Spring Woods Tournament, the Willis High School baseball team trounced the home team 14-1.
"The kids had a real good weekend," said Willis coach Mike Edwards. "They played pretty well throughout the tournament."
The Wildkats pounded out 13 hits Saturday including three by Ryan Potter who also had three RBIs and three runs. Bret Edwards added a double and a triple for Willis while Tony Esparza and Justin Nichols added three RBIs apiece. Trey Hogan and Quinton Moser score three runs each for the Kats.
Brice Barnes earned the win on the mound to improve to 2-0 on the year. He struck out five and allowed just six hits.
On Friday night, Willis beat Elsik 6-5 while Justin Jones drove in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh. Potter had earlier knocked in the game-tying run on a pinch-hit single.
Mike Pawalowski earned the victory as he pitched 4 and 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Trey Hogan finished with two hits in the game.
Willis is now 6-2 on the season and will play at Sam Houston next Tuesday.
Caney Creek Tournament
Navasota proved to be rude guests as they downed the host team twice to win the Caney Creek Tournament on Saturday.
The Rattlers started the day with an 8-3 victory over Caney Creek as Scott Martin and Justin McWhorter each homered for Navasota. For the Panthers, Jed Tantillo had a run and an RBI while Brett Carnline also had an RBI.
Creek then rebounded to down Crosby 8-6. Kevin Griffin earned the victory on the mound while Jeff McManus picked up the save for the Panthers. Jerald Loveless went 3-for-4 at the plate with two rns and four RBIs in the game while Ryan Mullinax added a two-RBI double for Creek
In the championship game, Creek managed just three runs in the first inning as they lost 10-3 to the Rattlers. Bubba Mosley and Carnline were each 1-for-3 with a run.
Despite the two losses to Navasota, Caney Creek coach Stacy Sheiner was pleased with his team's performance at the tournament.
"I was impressed with the kids, especially with the great game Thursday agianst New Waverly," he said. "We took it on the chin the first game today and had to play Crosby to get to the championship game and they played with great composure.
"I saw a lot of good things out of the kids," Scheiner continued. "We had great success. We made some mental mistakes, but they are easy mistakes to fix in practice. I saw a lot of maturity and a lot of improvement."
Carnline and Loveless were named to the all-tournament team for the Panthers.
Conroe Rained Out
The Conroe High School baseball team had its final game at the Pflugerville Connally Tournament rained out on Saturday. The Tigers will open up District 15-5A play on Tuesday at Klein Forest.
"We had a good non-district run and feel pretty good," said Conroe coach Frank Romero. "Our district is as good as any around and we're excited about it and excited about our chances." |
|
©The Courier 2004
|
|
|
