Paris all-stars cruise to first-round wins
By Brent Wilburn
The Paris News Published July 12, 2009

It would be difficult to argue that the Dixie Pre-Majors tournament director saved the best for last on Saturday.

In the nightcap of the tournament, the Paris Pre-Majors scored early and often on their way to hammering Tarkington 11-0 in a five-inning game at Paris Junior College’s Hub Hollis Field.

With the triumph, Paris advances to face Cleveland today at 7:30 p.m. on the same field. Cleveland moved on to the second round after an 11-4 win over Princeton.

Tarkington will face Princeton in an elimination game today at 5 p.m.

Paris opened Saturday’s game by sailing through the top half of the first inning as starting pitcher Jeff King allowed only one hit.

They followed that by sending everyone in the starting line-up to the plate in the bottom half of the inning en route to scoring eight runs.

It was the most runs scored in the first inning of any of the four games on Saturday. The closest any other team came to that was Marshall, which scored six runs in the first inning of its game against Anna.

Paris lead-off hitter Chevis Springer, who scored two runs in that opening inning, reached base after a frozen-rope single to the Tarkington center fielder.

Ty Huie, who batted 3 for 3 and was only a home run away from hitting for the cycle, followed with a single of his own, and Laytner Kennedy followed by driving in the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly to right-center field.

Corbin Taylor drew a walk to put runners on first and third base for Lucas Lehman, who capitalized with an RBI single to left field.

Colby Rose followed suit by sending Taylor and Lehman across the plate with a two-run double. A few pitches later, Esch gained an RBI by hitting a sacrifice fly to deep right field.

King drew a full-count walk, Colton Coe singled and Springer drew a full-count walk to load the bases for Huie.

He cleared them just two pitches later with a triple.

Tarkington finally put an end to the inning by forcing Kennedy to pop out to shortstop.

But it couldn’t stop Paris from completing its quest for a first-round victory, as Paris cruised to the win.



Tarkington 000 00 — 0 2

Paris 812 0x — 11 11



WP: Jeff King 5.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H

LP: Josh Consemu 0.2 IP, 7 ER



Top hitters

Tarkington: Colby Felton 1-2; David Graham 1-2.

Paris: Chevis Springer 2-2, 3 R; Ty Huie 3-3, 4 RBI, R, 2B, 3B; Corbin Taylor 2-2, 2 R; Colby Rose 2-3, 3 RBI, R.



Durant, Okla., 13,

Hopkins Co. 3

Durant, Okla., began its quest for a Texas Dixie Pre-Majors tournament title by claiming a 13-3 win over Hopkins County in the first game Saturday at Hub Hollis Field.

The Oklahoma squad will receive a bye until Monday and will await the winner of Sunday’s Marshall/Kilgore game.

Hopkins will face Anna today in an elimination game at 2:30 p.m.

Durant took an early one-run lead after the opening inning but ran away with that lead in the next frame after scoring six more runs.

Josh Brown led Durant at the plate by going 2 for 3 and scoring a run.

Canyon Cochran was 3 for 3 for Hopkins and scored a pair of runs.

Hopkins Co. 101 10 — 3

Durant 261 4x — 13



Top hitters

Hopkins Co.: Canyon Cochran 3-3, 2 R; Jared Riley 1-2.

Durant: Josh Brown 2-3, R; Nolan Fanning 1-2, R.



Marshall 18, Anna 0

Marshall pitchers Alex Cameron and Jared Hanson combined for a four-inning no-hitter, and the offense gave them more than enough support en route to an 18-0 rout of Anna on Saturday at Hub Hollis Field.

With the victory, Marshall advances to face Kilgore today at noon.

Anna will square off against Hopkins County at 2:30 p.m. in an elimination game.

Marshall led 15-0 after two innings and had no problem holding on to the advantage for the remainder of the contest.

Andres Vence was 3 for 3 from the plate for Marshall and scored two runs. Carter Corner and Dusty Weaver also scored two runs apiece.



Anna 000 0 — 0

Marshall 693 x — 18



Top hitters

Anna: N/A

Marshall: Andres Vence 3-3, 2 R, 2B; Carter Corner 1-3, 2 R; Dusty Weaver 2-3, 2 R, 2B.

Cleveland 11,

Princeton 4

Jake Sweat and Cory Farr had two hits apiece for Cleveland as the team downed Princeton 11-4 in a first-round game at Hub Hollis Field on Saturday.

Cleveland will compete against Paris today at 7:30 p.m. at Hub Hollis Field in a second-round game, while Tarkington faces Princeton in an elimination game at 5 p.m.

Cleveland opened the game by scoring three runs in the first inning and added more to it late in the game to secure the victory.

Princeton briefly threatened Cleveland’s lead after three runs scored when a hard-hit ball rolled past the Cleveland left fielder to close the deficit to 9-4.

Princeton loaded the bases with two outs later in the inning, but Cleveland forced the batter to hit a pop fly to end the frame.

Sweat and Farr had two hits apiece for Cleveland, while Tyler Lewis and Bert Wilson led Princeton with two hits apiece.



Princeton 000 103 0 — 4

Cleveland 300 422 x — 11



Top hitters

Princeton: Tyler Lewis 2-5; Bert Wilson 2-4.

Cleveland: Jake Sweat 2-4, 2 R; Cory Farr 2-4, R, 2B, 3B; Matt Daniels 1-3, 2 R; Ethan Johnson 1-3, 2 R.

Why is Durant, OK allowed to play in a Texas State Championship tournament?

they're close to the line and it's for drive times, i believe. plus i'm not sure that anyone else plays dixie in okla.

There are several communities it OK that play in a Texas Dixie District. For example, Idabel.

Paris takes the title...why was this moved, most of these kids play varsity baseball?????

I didn't move it, but I would have if I had seen it. It's not school affiliated sports. It's youth city league sports.

yeah, not at all like "who would you like to be hired at KTBB" which obiviously is school affilitated sports? These young men represent their schools and also their town. Congratulations to them!

Its not a school league and has no affiliation to UIL. Thats why it got moved!

LOL...that wasn't my point. I was just saying who KTBB hires is not UIL affiliated either is it?

Since the person they hire will announce High School Football games then I believe they are!

Local Pre-Majors prepare for World Series

By Brent Wilburn
The Paris News
Published July 19, 2009

After six consecutive days of working together as a team early last week, the Paris Pre-Major all-star baseball team was back at it again Saturday.

The Paris squad emerged from a nine-team double elimination Dixie baseball state tournament as the overall champion after defeating the Marshall Pre-Major all-stars, 5-3, in the title game early Thursday morning at North Lamar’s Pos Long Field.

Next on the agenda for the Paris Pre-Majors will be a trip to the Dixie Pre-Majors World Series in Ozark, Ala.

They will meet at Paris Junior College’s Hub Hollis Field on Thursday at noon before embarking on the 700-mile trip. Their first game of the World Series tournament will be Saturday at 1 p.m. against the Pre-Majors from Petal, Miss.

This past Saturday, the 15 and 16-year-olds, led by head coach Heath Kennedy, met at Paris Real Estate to wash cars in an effort to generate funds for the trip.

“We were up there for about four hours, and we stayed busy the whole time,” Kennedy said. “I think it turned out pretty well.”

The donations the team received at the car wash represented just a bit of the overall cost it takes to make the trip and sustains the group for the amount of time they might need to stay.

Lucky for the Paris Pre-Majors, they don’t have to generate all the money it will take to make the trip.

The Paris Teen League assists them with money that helps take care of basic meals and the transportation to get there. Once they arrive, the host city of the World Series takes care of lodging for all the teams.

“The Teen League gives them money to pay for the basic expenses,” Paris Teen League president Dale Henry said. “The extra money that the team raises is just that — extra money. It gives them the option of going to a nice restaurant or going to a place they normally wouldn’t be able to afford to go.”

And when the players take the field Saturday at 1 p.m., Kennedy said his goal is for the team to represent Texas well.

“We’re going to make sure we play hard and play together,” Kennedy said. “If we do that, we should be alright.”

The person they hire will announce high school games for the schools not for the UIL. These same boys will be playing football perhaps on some of those broadcast.

Sorry, not gonna work. My son played on one of these Dixie teams and Im still not siding with you!

Just giving you a hard time, doesn't matter to me. However, Youth/Little League/ Junior High Sports does not fit this age group either.

Yeah, its a cluster!

Ozark or bust

By Brent Wilburn
The Paris News
Published July 24, 2009

As the players on the Paris Pre-Majors all-star baseball team arrived at Hub Hollis Field on Thursday, they were essentially the same as they were the last time they were at the field.

Except this time, the situation is different.

The Paris Pre-Major (15-16-year-old) squad won a nine-team Dixie Pre-Majors state tournament, which was hosted in Paris, one week ago. The team left Hub Hollis Field on Thursday at noon as it began its journey to Ozark, Ala., for the Dixie Pre-Majors World Series tournament.

Paris opens the tournament Saturday at 1 p.m. with a game against the Pre-Majors from Petal, Miss.

The players and coaches had their usual easy-going off-the-field demeanor on Thursday. Several players on the team bus were in possession of headphones so they could listen to music, while some had laptop computers for their entertainment.

But something that couldn’t go unnoticed was the new haircut many of them sported.

Most of the players boasted fresh mohawk hairstyles as they boarded the bus. In fact, they even got head coach Heath Kennedy in on the action.

“I told them before we even started the state tournament even started that if we won, I’d get a mohawk too,” Kennedy said.

The players also were missing something a bit more vital to their winning cause — a couple of their teammates.

Outfielder Chris Ballard spent the past couple of days on vacation in Florida and plans to meet the team in Alabama in time to play the first game.

Josh Esch, the player who struck out the final batter in the final game of the state tournament, has a more complicated situation.

Esch had made a prior committment to attend a church camp in New Mexico with his youth group and didn’t want to renege on it.

He won’t be back from the camp until early Sunday, so he’s definitely ruled out of Saturday’s first-round game. Kennedy said everything after that point will be decided on the fly.

“If he gets back from camp and still wants to come down to play, we’re going to buy him a ticket and fly him down there,” he said. “If he wants to come, we definitely want him with us. He hated to miss either one, so we’re going to try to fix it so he can do both.”

In the week layoff between tournaments, several of the players also took trips they were already scheduled to take.

Riley Chipman took an in-state vacation, while Colton Coe and Jeff King went to a baseball camp at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Okla.

The players who remained in town came together for a brief practice session Tuesday and faced live pitching from Britt Melton, a former North Lamar and PJC grad who will be pitching at the University of Texas at Tyler this fall.

“It was good to be able to have that little practice Tuesday,” Kennedy said. “But we’re just ready to get out there and start playing games again. We can’t wait.”