Sports

By Rick Colegrove

The Hughes Springs Lady Mustangs were in action this weekend and looked solid at times, but also had some shaky times, as well. Overall on the weekend, the ladies dropped three games and won two, bringing their season total to an eye-popping 14-5 record. District is right around the corner and the ladies are doing rather well, but they are greedy and expect to win each and every time they take to the diamond.

By Rick Colegrove

The Hughes Springs Mustangs baseball team took on Atlanta last week, with the contest not being close but serving as a learning experience. Hughes Springs was on the losing end, 14-3. On the bright side, Bo McEntire went two for four, while Jake Moore went one for four. The team followed the Atlanta loss with a tournament this past weekend, and played a total of four games.

Thursday started the same as Tuesday ended, with Hughes Springs losing. The score was a bit closer and showed fight in the boys, with Hughes Springs losing 2-1 to the Hooks Hornets. Alex Bruce was three for three with a double and a run scored.

By: J. Leslie Riseden

Special Contributor to The Steel Country Bee For the first time in 20 years, Avinger’s Division A Boys Basketball team has made it all the way to the 2015-16 UIL Boys State Basketball Championships. Following an energy-packed pep rally at the school March 8, the team boarded their bus for San Antonio. To stay limber, the team planned a stop along the way in Marble Falls, to get in some practice time before continuing to the Alamo City. All games will be played in the Alamodome. On March 10, the Avinger Indians take on the Happy Cowboys. A win here will clinch the Indians a berth in the championship game on March 12.

The Avinger Indians are coached by Treston Dowell, who was a member of the 1996 State Championship team. Pictured from left: Alex Perry, Grayson Early, Desmond Chism, Brennan Dowell, Demionte Mitchell, John-David Courtney, Curtis Henry.

The Daingerfield Tigers are one win closer to the state tournament, following a win over Whitewright in the Area round of the UIL Basketball Playoffs. Daingerfield defeated the Whitewright Tigers on Friday, Feb. 26, 55 to 42.

Daingerfield faced Alba-Golden on March 1, in a Regional Quarterfinal matchup. Daingerfield now has a season record of 20 wins and five losses

By Toni Walker

Editor of The Bee news@steelcountrybee.com

The Daingerfield Lady Tigers again stayed busy through the weekend, competing in the Texas Two Step Tournament at Lear Park in Longview. Both the junior varsity and varsity squads competed for the Tigers.

On Thursday, the Lady Tigers junior varsity played in two games, one against the Pleasant Grove junior varsity team, and the other against Carlisle. The Lady Tigers were outscored 27 to 4 in the two contests, with Destiny Hurndon taking both losses on the mound.

By Rick Colegrove

It is tournament time in softball. The early part of the season always is a time for tournaments. It’s a way for the teams to round into shape, and answer questions that a team might have. Well, so far this season, there doesn’t seem to be many question marks for the Lady Mustangs. The Hughes Springs softball team closed out a weekend full of action to put their season mark at 11-2.

Thursday saw the start of the action, and the ladies added two wins, with a blow out of Gilmer and a tight one against the Texas High team from Texarkana. Leading the ladies against Gilmer was Charlie Reeves, Shelbie Fickling, and Peyton Blythe. All three had two hits in the game, with Fickling and Reeves having 2 runs batted in, while Blythe had 3 hits to her name. One of Blythe’s hits was a homerun, and Haylee Wilson, Blythe, Fickling and Reeves, contributed doubles. Abbye McKinney got the win with three innings of work with five strikeouts and yielding only 1 run.

Josh Terry, a 2013 Daingerfield graduate and Southwestern Assembly of God baseball player, has had an extremely hot bat through the first 12 games of the season.

Terry, the leadoff hitter for the Lions, is batting .545 and has 16 hits. Terry has one double and one triple to go along with 14 singles. In the final three games of a four game series against Central Christian University, from Kansas, Josh was 10 for 11 and in game three of the series was a homerun shy from hitting for the cycle. Terry has scored 15 runs and has 3 RBI’s for the Lions. Currently, Terry is on a 10 game hitting streak for SAGU.

The Lions are currently 8-4 on the season and participate in the Sooner Athletic Conference.

The Daingerfield Lady Tiger softball team stayed busy over the weekend, competing in the Longview Lobo Classic on Feb, 18, 19, and 20. In tournament play, games are played with a time limit, not based on innings.

In their first game on Thursday, the Tigers defeated the Lady Rebels from Tyler Lee, 11 to 2. Camryn Byrd was the winning pitcher for the Tigers, allowing two runs on three singles. Byrd walked two, and struck out seven Rebels in the win. Ashlyn Fomby went two for two in the game, and also had two runs batted in. Nekoda Coleman went one for two, but that one hit was a bases loaded homerun in the final inning. In Tigers’ final game of the day, Byrd took the loss, as Lindale defeated the Lady Tigers, 8 to 3. Offensively, Baylee Welch went two for two with two singles and a run batted in for the Tigers. Second baseman Coleman was a defensive star in the loss, notching seven put outs.

The Hughes Springs Powerlifting teams traveled to Maud on Saturday, Feb. 20, for the Maud Powerlifter Meet.

For the girls division, five Lady Mustangs competed, including Brianna Morrow, Andrea Folsom, Jalena Denmark, Kailey Farmer, and Claire Pittman. Pittman and Farmer both finished fourth in their respective weight classes.

In the boys division, AJ Garcia, Noah Palmertree, and JJ Jones all competed for the Mustangs. Garcia placed first in his weight class, while Pamertree placed second in his weight class.

By Rick Colegrove

The Hughes Springs Mustangs baseball team is set to kick off another year on the diamond. This year’s team is a bit of an enigma. With the past success of Mustang baseball, this year’s team doesn’t have the fanfare that past teams have had to live up to. Gone are the likes of Dylan Moore, Chad McKinney, Josh Anton, Eric Berryhill, and Trent Shelton.

With subtraction though comes addition. Add in young names like Bo McEntire, Alex Bruce, and Riley McKinney, who are all sophomores, and it doesn’t seem that the cupboard is quite so bare. Coach Kent Craig will have a lot of young talented players whom he will have to make decisions on before the season begins. Most positions are up for grabs, and with only 4 seniors on the squad, it will be up to the aforementioned names, and a few others to build on and add their own names to the billboards that surround the Mustang baseball diamond.