Having posted a very respectable 10-2-1 record in three pre-district tournaments, the Kingwood Varsity Baseball Team was primed for the tough district competition that lay ahead in the second half of season.  The players were battle tested and the coaches were ready to execute their plan with the proven troops as they marched toward a district championship.

In the first game of the week, Kingwood traveled to Port Arthur to open 22-5A District play against the PA Memorial Titans.  The long bus ride gave the Mustangs plenty of time to relax as well as mentally prepare for their “second season”.  Apparently it paid off.  In the top of the first, lead off hitter Ryan Pope was hit by a pitch, stole second base, advanced to third on a ground out, and scored the first run of the game on a Ricky Cratty sacrifice fly.  Kingwood never looked back.  Leading 1-0 after one inning, Dustin Walls roped a single to leftfield, and advanced to third on a pass ball and a ground out.  Kyle Porter followed with a single to score Walls to increase the lead to 2-0.  After Porter stole second base, Greg Gossett ripped an RBI single to make the score 3-0.  Gossett immediately stole second and crossed the plate with the Mustangs’ fourth run when Pope singled to center.  With one out in the third inning, Matt Bardwell laced a single to right-centerfield, Walls walked, and Michael Hopper singled to load the bases.  The score went to 5-0 when Porter hit a bleeder down the rightfield line to plate Michael Williams, who was pinch running for Bardwell.  Kenneth Negron drove in Walls on a sac fly to leftfield and the good guys were leading 6-0, but were not finished.  Walls and Hopper hit consecutive doubles to open the top of the fifth inning to put runners at second and third base.  Porter then hit a shot to left-centerfield to score two more runs.  Porter, who had taken second on the throw to home and advanced to third on a Negron single, crossed homeplate with the ninth run on a Gossett fielder’s choice.  The Titans managed to push across one run in the bottom of the sixth on an error, a walk, and an infield hit to avoid the shutout.  Neither team scored in the seventh inning and Kingwood put their first district win in the books – 9-1.  Blake Hancock, the winning pitcher, allowed one run on three hits, walked two and struck out five.  Daniel Edwards was credited with the save when he took the mound in the seventh and retired the side in order.  The Mustang offense was led by Porter (3-3, 3 singles, walk, 4 RBIs), Dustin Walls (2-3, single, double, walk, 3 runs), and Hopper (2-4, single, double).  Pope, Johnny Whittleman, Bardwell, Negron, and Gossett contributed singles.

With a relatively easy win under their belt, Kingwood took their second road trip of the week to Baytown to visit the Sterling Rangers.  This game would prove a much tougher test for the spring break road warriors.  The Rangers put up two quick runs in the first inning on a two singles and a double.  The Mustangs had scoring chances in the second and third innings, but failed to take advantage of the opportunities.  Down 2-0, Kingwood needed something good to happen, and it did.  In the top of the fourth, Bardwell smacked a singled to centerfield.  Williams, who was pinch running for Bardwell, scooted to second on a hard hit groundout to the right side by Hopper, and scored when the shortstop made a wild throw to first on a not so hard grounder up the middle by Porter.  Porter advanced to second on the error and scored when Negron blasted a double in the left centerfield gap.  Now we had a ballgame with the score knotted at 2-2.  In the bottom of the fifth, the Rangers managed to put a runner on second base courtesy of a single and a fielder’s choice.  With two out, the next Baytown hitter hit a frozen rope to left centerfield which was certain to score the runner from second.  But it was not to be.  In a textbook play, Pope retrieved the ball at the fence and threw a strike to the cutoff man Walls, who wheeled and threw another strike to the catcher Bardwell.  Bardwell slapped the tag on the sliding Ranger at homeplate for the third out and suddenly the Stangs had the regained some momentum.  With one out in the top of the sixth, Hopper reached base on another error by the Baytown shortstop.  Porter followed with a laser shot over third base to put runners at the corners.  Kingwood finally took its first lead at 3-2 when the next batter, Negron, plated Hopper with his second double of the game. Gossett was then issued a walk to load the bases.  After a force play at home, Whittleman drew a walk to force in another run and Cratty followed with a two out two RBI single to run the score to 6-2.  The Mustangs added an insurance run in the seventh on two walks and a Gossett double to make the final score 7-2.  Starting pitcher Justin O’Bannon allowed two runs, scattered six hits, walked one and struck out three in 4 1/3 innings.  Jonathan Beaty finished out the fifth inning before giving way to Cratty to finish the game.  Kingwood banged out ten hits in the win.  Negron (2-4, 2 doubles, 2 RBIs) and Pope (2-4, 2 singles) led the way.  Gossett added a double while Whittleman, Cratty, Bardwell, Hopper, and Porter each singled.

With an overall record of 12-2-1 (2-0 in district), the varsity plays host to Beaumont Westbrook and visits Humble in their next two district games.     

By Todd Porter