Early Lady Horns 19, Dublin 0
DUBLIN – Behind their fourth consecutive District 8-3A softball victory, the Early Lady Horns secured a playoff berth in Thursday’s regular season finale with a 19-0 win at Dublin.
Early (17-8, 8-6) scored three runs in the first inning, seven in the second, two in the third and seven more in the fourth to enforce the mercy rule.
The Lady Horns collected 20 hits, led by four from Kyleigh Caperton, three from Andie Simpson, two apiece from Jordan Simmons, Aleeya McCombs, Jamie Vassar, Jamie Lyon, Sydney Greaves, and Tiffany Phelps, and one from Marissa Reedy. Simpson and Phelps both finished with a team-high four RBIs trailed by three from Vassar, two each from Simmons and Lyon, and one apiece by Caperton, McCombs and Rylee Tupin.
In the circle, Greaves tossed a one-hit shutout with four strikeouts and two walks. The Early defense did not commit an error.
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Bangs Dragons 21, Abilene Christian 8
ABILENE – The Bangs Dragons offense exploded in a 21-8 non-district victory at Abilene Christian Thursday night.
The Dragons (14-7, 4-4) scored nine runs in the first inning only for Abilene Christian to trim the deficit to 9-6 after three innings. Bangs tacked on six more runs in the fourth, two in the sixth and four in the seventh to pull away.
Bangs recorded 18 hits – four by Kaleb Biggs, three each by Connor Bible, Jaxon Duncan, Hunter Crowell and Everett Kirchner, and one apiece by Skylar Minshew and Rex Guerrero. Bible, Minshew and Crowell collected three RBIs apiece followed by Duncan, Biggs, Kirchner and Guerrero with two each, and Brennan Mendieta with one.
On the mound, Bible, Duncan and Biggs teamed up to yield five earned runs on eight hits with three strikeouts and five walks. The Bangs defense committed seven errors.
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Millsap 16, Early Longhorns 3
MILLSAP – The Early Longhorns baseball team suffered a second straight District 8-3A loss at Millsap Thursday night, 16-3.
Trailing 2-1 heading to the bottom of the fourth inning, Early (6-15, 4-8) yielded 14 runs in the frame.
The Longhorns finished with six hits – a pair by Jack Nowell and one each from Brayden Moya, Jaxson Stockman, Ben Wilson and Angel Marquez, who had the lone Early RBI.
On the mound, Skyden Stoddart, Brennan Rasor and Chris Ivy combined to surrender five earned runs on 10 hits with three strikeouts and three walks. The Early defense committed five errors.