Sports

The Ninth Annual Tour de Cypress Ride and Run in Mount Vernon will expand this year into Sunday with the Trey Deuce Mountain Bike Ride.
The 0.6 mile mountain bike berm course is being added to an already successful weekend of food, fun, riding and running.
The weekend kicks off with a Heroes Barbecue at 6 p.m. Friday, April 19, during which the Mount Vernon Rotary Club, sponsor of Tour de Cypress, honors emergency personnel, fire fighters and police officers for their dedication throughout the year. The departments also provide traffic control and safety during the ride and run. The barbecue is staged at the Franklin County Airport Community Hall and is free to bikers. Bruce Dunai will provide entertainment.

The Daingerfield Tiger baseball team had a tough week losing to Hughes Springs and Queen City, the top two teams in District 16 2A.
In the first game of the week Daingerfield took it on the chin to the #1-ranked team in Class 2A, Hughes Springs in a 12-2 loss. The Tigers could never rebound from the Mustangs’ big 7-run second inning.
Malik Higgins suffered the loss for the Tigers, going two innings and giving up 6 earned runs on six hits, with five walks. Josh Terry pitched three innings and gave up 1 earned run on one hit, with two strikeouts and two walks. Stone Kelley pitched the final inning for Daingerfield giving up 1 earned run on one hit, with two walks. The leading hitter for Daingerfield was Kelley with a home run and a double. Shawn Hooks, Colton Gibbs and Terry all contributed one hit each.

By Steven Campbell
 
Once again the Hughes Springs varsity baseball team has emerged as the class of the district, and perhaps the entire state this far into the 2013 season. Head coach Kent Craig’s team has gotten off to an impressive undefeated 15-0 start, including winning out in the Elysian Fields, Jefferson, and Hughes Springs tournaments, as well as their first three District games. The Mustangs are currently ranked #1 in the Texashighschoolbaseball.com poll, and #2 in the THSBCA.com poll.
 “As far as what separates Hughes Springs from other schools, it’s the community support for all sports and kids,” Coach Craig said. “We never hurt for support for our kids or our programs.”
With the support of an entire community behind them, and an ace pitching squad in Trent Shelton, Zach Basham, and Dylan Moore, the Mustangs have smothered the opposition.

The Daingerfield tennis team participated in the Hughes Springs Athletic Booster Club Tennis Tournament on March 8.
After battling all day, seniors Zac Ferris and Braccus Hannah met in the Consolation Championship Match.  Ferris started the day with a hard fought 5–8 loss to Jack McDowell of Prairiland, followed by three straight wins (Josh Adams of Avinger 8–2, John Harris of Redwater 8–4, Chris Fuller of Linden-Kildare 8-7) before meeting teammate Hannah in the finale.
Hannah’s day went much like his teammate’s, starting with a 4–8 loss to older brother Gary McDowell of Prairiland and then a bye, followed by two 8–0 wins against Steve Roberts (Avery) and Seth Bennett (Redwater).
The stage was set for an all Daingerfield finale, with Ferris coming out on top 8–3.

The Hughes Springs Lady Mustangs finished the Lady Mustang Classic 2-3, placing third. The Lady Mustangs had wins over Pittsburg and Daingerfield in the Classic on March 7 through 9.
Ashlin Roach hit .647 for the tournament, going 11-17 at the plate with five doubles, a triple. She stole three bases and had 10 RBIs. Kaitlyn Morris hit .583, going 7-12 with five doubles, a triple, 6 RBIs, and she went 2 and 2 in the circle for the Lady Mustangs.
The Lady Mustangs rolled to a 20-0 District 16-2A win over the Daingerfield Lady Tigers. Breanne Gunn homered, doubled and drove in 5 runs to pace a 14-hit Hughes Springs attack.
Roach also homered for Hughes Springs, which led 3-0 after one inning, scored 7 in the second and then put 5 on the board in both the fourth and fifth frames.
Destiny Gonzales, Siera Baird and Halie Pippin all drove in 2 runs for the Lady Mustangs.

An East Texas baseball player made a good start of Baylor University’s Division One baseball season. Grayson Porter, a graduate of McLeod High School, is a junior at Baylor.
Porter grew up playing Dixie League and Little League baseball in East Texas.  His goal was to play Division One in baseball. He hit his first home runs of the year on March 9 and March 15 in Houston, playing the University of New Orleans. He was 4 of 5 in the first game and in the Saturday double header; he played left fielder and designated hitter. He has started the five games.
Porter is the son of Denese Banker and the grandson of H.B. and Frances Pitchford of Avinger.

The Hughes Springs tennis classic was held March 8 and 9.  
Hayden Smith captured first place in boys’ singles, while Luis Dorantes and Juan Rios each took first place in boys’ doubles.
Shane Finney and Andy Nolan won third place in the boys’ doubles.

Daingerfield scored 5 runs in their half of the ninth inning Friday evening and held off a late New Boston rally to defeat the Lions 13-10.
Malik Higgins doubled in the top of the seventh, and Shawn Hooks singled in Higgins to tie the score at 8 all to send the game into extra innings. The leading hitters for the Tigers were Hooks, who was 4-for-5 with two triples, four RBI’s and 2 runs scored, Ruben Mims, who was 2-for-4 with a double, 1 RBI and 3 runs scored and Josh Terry, who was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI’s and 1 run scored. Stone Kelley was 1-for-1 with a 2 run home run and was hit by a pitch 4 times, Kelley had a RBI and 1 run scored. Higgins, Colton Gibbs and Troy Stuard each contributed one hit for Daingerfield.

The Linden-Kildare Tigers took advantage of four Daingerfield throwing errors en route to a 4-3 victory over Daingerfield on March 5. L-K had only 1 earned run in the ball game.
Stone Kelley started the game for Daingerfield, and Josh Terry pitched the final two innings. Terry suffered the loss.
Linden-Kildare had three hits on the night, one by Robby West and two by Clayton James. West scored twice for Linden-Kildare. For Daingerfield, Shawn Hooks had a double and scored a run. Terry had a hit and a RBI. Ruben Mims added a hit, and courtesy runner Ty Wilson stole three bases and scored twice.
Atlanta tournament
The Daingerfield Tigers won two of the three games they played in the Atlanta Tournament Feb. 28 through March 2. They came home with wins over McLeod and Spring Hill, and one Tiger, Josh Terry, made the All-Tournament Team.

Hughes Springs Junior Varsity baseball consists of two teams, and each team is holding its own with a record of 12 wins and one loss so far on the season.
They brought down White Oak’s JV Feb. 26. Both teams participated in the Jefferson JV tournament that weekend and managed to sweep by everyone in the tournament. The Red and Black teams for the Mustang JV each played Linden, Elysian Fields, and Jefferson in the tournament.
They faced Queen City March 4 in Hughes Springs to start District play.