It was the good and the bad last week for the Kennedale Wildcat baseball team (14-6-1, 3-1). The good was that the Cats moved up to #10, went 2 for 3 and beat #2 Brock (2A). The bad came when the defending district champs lost to district rival Mineral Wells and felled back to #17 and into 2nd place in the district. {{more}}
On Saturday, March 22, Kennedale played a non-district game against the Brock Eagles who were undefeated then and ranked #2 in the state. Brock (21-1) is a traditional 2A baseball power and has since moved up to #1 in Class 2A. Kennedale won the slugfest 12-10.The teams totaled 23 hits, including four extra base hits in the game. The teams traded runs for most of the contest, leading to five lead changes in the game. Steven Murchison racked up two RBIs on two hits for the Wildcats Varsity. He tripled in the second inning and singled in the sixth inning. Brett Hunt, as a reliever, got the win for the Kennedale Wildcats Varsity. He tossed one inning of shutout ball. He struck out one, walked none and surrendered one hit.The top of the second saw Brock take an early lead, 3-0. The Wildcats answers as they scored six runs in the bottom of the second. The Wildcats scored on an RBI single by TJ Aguilar, an RBI single by Jake Michener, a two-run single by Josh Taylor, and a two-run triple by Murchison. Brock stormed back scoring 7 runs in the top of the third and seemingly in control of the game at 10-6. The Cats scored a couple of more off of walks in the 4th cutting it to 10-8. Kennedale managed to grab the lead and keep it after a strong sixth inning with 4 runs. The Cats scored with singles by Murchison, Austin Eggleston and Hunt along with a bunt by Davis Walsh.
The following Tuesday, March 25, the Wildcats scored at 9-0 win over another district rival, the Lake Worth Bullfrogs. Austin Eggleston pitched the shutout with 12 strikeouts with only one hit. The Wildcats scored 9 runs on 7 hits. Jake Michener got 3 RBI?s off one single. Lake Worth (1-17, 0-4) never really had a chance.
Mineral Wells Rams (13-8, 4-0) rolled into town Friday, March 28, undefeated in district play aiming to knock off the Kennedale, a team they had not defeated in ?recent memory? according to the Mineral Wells Index. The Rams left with a 5-4 win even though the Wildcats out hit Mineral Wells nine to seven. What Kennedale couldn?t recover from were the 4 errors committed in the game. Mineral Wells had one.
The Rams scored two runs in the second and three in the 4th. Kennedale managed one run in the bottom of the 5th when Box who had singled scored on the lone error by Mineral Wells. Then in the bottom of the 5th the Cats mounted a serious challenge with a three run inning. An RBI triple by Josh Taylor, an RBI single by Austin Eggleston, and a fielder’s choice set off the Cats rally. Kennedale threat came to an end when Kolton Hess grounded out. The final two innings for Kennedale was three up and three down.The 1st round of district play ends with Springtown (9-10-1, 2-2) this Friday. The Cats will be looking to sweep the rest of their district games.
