Troup uses Arp as volleyball playoff tune-up

Troup concluded the regular season at West Rusk Tuesday, Oct. 24. The Lady Tigers defeated the Lady Raiders in four games in the first District 15-3A match between the two squads and were expected to repeat the performance this week.

A win over West Rusk would give Troup at least a share of the District 15 championship, pending the outcome of Winona’s match with Sabine Tuesday. Troup and Winona each entered the regular season final matches with a 10-1 record.

Troup head coach Arden Johnson said the Lady Tigers will play their bi-district match Monday, Oct. 30, tentatively at LeTourneau University in Longview. The likely opponent will be New Diana or Elysian Fields.

Troup forged a 25-19 win over Arp in the first game of last week’s match, and dominated action for a 25-16 win in the second game. Arp rallied in the third game but Troup was able to pull away for a 25-19 win to claim the district match. Troup accounted for eight ace serves, 33 kills, 29 assists and 56 digs. Jansen Reid paced the defense with 17 digs, Alex Flora added nine to the team total and Kori Minnix was able to post eight digs. Also, Alyssa Flora finished with seven digs, Savanna Cox had six and Cheyenne Henson recorded four.

Minnix was the leader at the net with 15 of the team’s kills, and Asia Parker was in double figures with 10 kills. Jayla Starks and Cox each had three and Natalie Davenport recorded two kills.

Parker and Henson posted two ace serves apiece and Reid, Minnix, Davenport and Cox each had one.

Parker and Cox also each blocked one shot and Davenport led the team with 29 assists.

Troup improved to 23-11 overall with the win over Arp. Since the Nacogdoches Tournament on Sept. 2, Troup is 12-1 with the only loss to Winona in mid-September. The Lady Tigers recorded a 32-10 mark in games during the district schedule, including a 5-5 mark with Winona. Troup swept Arp and Cumberland twice and Harmony once.

Five seniors concluded their home career with Troup, including Alex Flora and Alyssa Flora, Jansen Reid, Cheyenne Henson and Jayla Starks.

We see you Alex Flora. Alex plays for Coach Mark Murphree and the 18U Vision Elite team. Good Luck in the playoffs!

RUNNING THE ROCK

HUNTSVILLE – A gaggle of runners descended on Huntsville last Monday, Oct. 23 to see who would qualify to advance to the UIL State Cross Country Meet in two weeks. Runners from Class 2A to Class 6A toed the starting line in Kate Barr-Ross Park beginning at 8:30 a.m. and while many did not fare as well as they would like, several were able to punch their tickets to state.

According to the UIL, “The first 4 teams in each division and the top 10 individuals not already on one of the advancing teams in the regional meet qualify for the state meet. Team scores will be computed by totaling the top five runners’ finish positions. The sixth and seventh runners will count as displacers. Teams with less than five runners will not be totaled in the team scores.”

The Grapeland Sandiettes will be sending a team of runners to the 2017 UIL State Meet at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock. The Sandiettes finished third overall with a total of 116. The Crawford Lady Pirates finished second with 82 while the Valley Mills Lady Eagles finished first with 57.

Sandiette sophomore Kenya Woods finished in 11th place at the Regional Meet with a time of 13:44.5. She will be joined at the state meet by junior teammate Ragan Bowie who finished in 14th place with a time of 13:45.2. Freshman Cierra Simon finished 29th with a time of 14:21.1, while junior Hannah Chipman finished 35th with a time of 14:30.7. Freshman Teira Jones finished in 50th place with a time of 14:51.1 and freshman Christi Shepherd finished in 159th place with a time of 19:20.8

The Latexo Tigers and Lady Tigers will also be sending several runners to Round Rock. On the girls’ side, Madison Kelsey finished eighth with a time of 13:18.1. The Tigers just missed out on qualifying as a team as they finished in sixth place with a total of 174.

Latexo’s Carter Catoe and Tristan Curless will be traveling to Round Rock in two weeks after their performances on Monday. Catoe finished fourth overall with a time of 17:59.9 while Curless finished seventh with a time of 18:15.4.

The Palestine Wildcats will also be represented in Round Rock after they won the Class 4A team championship with a total of 63.

Palestine freshman Luis Rangel finished second overall with a time of 17:13.1. Teammates Cristian Guzman and Michael Guzman finished fourth and fifth – respectively – with times of 17:22.4 and 17:23.8. Daniel Sanchez finished 26th overall with a time of 18:19.7, Francis Sis was 43rd with a time of 18:40.2, Garrett Bowden finished 50th with a time of 18:53.2 and Cristian Castillo was 51st with a time of 18:55.8

The girls run a course approximately two miles in length while the boys run a course approximately three miles in length.

While the Class 2A – 6A runners were in Huntsville, the Class 1A runners were in Corpus Christi. The Slocum Mustangs and Lady Mustangs were in competition and will be sending both the girls’ and boys’ teams to Round Rock.

The Lady Mustangs team finished in third place with 127 points. The team members are: Courtney January, with a time of 14:33 and 11th place overall; Maddie Bates, with a time of 14:41 and 15th place overall; Shelby Bowman, with a time of 14:53 and 22nd place; Isabella McNeil with a time of 15 minutes flat and 26th place; Tatiana Watson with a time of 16:08 and 53rd place; Jalyn Fletcher, with a time of 16:11 and 55th place; and Laney Lasiter, with a time of 16:14 and 57th place.

Justin Neal paced the Slocum boys’ team and finished in sixth place with a time of 18:30. The Mustangs’ just missed qualifying for the state meet as a team with their sixth place finish.

The state meet will be held at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock on Nov. 4. The Class 1A Girls’ State Championship begins at 11:10 a.m. The Class 1A Boys’ State Championship begins at 11:40 a.m. The Class 2A Girls’ State Championship begins at 12:20 p.m. The Class 2A Boys’ State Championship begins at 12:50 p.m. The Class 4A Boys’ State Championship begins at 3:10 p.m.

Organizational Tryout Dates

Freyman shuts out Angelo State twice to deliver Tarleton’s first-ever series win over Angelo State, national No. 1 team

STEPHENVILLE – Even the term ‘ace’ was an understatement for what Haley Freyman did as the junior right-hander kept the nation’s No. 1 team off the board for 14 consecutive innings in Friday’s doubleheader sweep of Angelo State and the school’s first-ever series win over the Rambelles and a team ranked No. 1 in the nation.

“I’m not really sure which word to use – phenomenal, terrific, excellent, dominant – because Haley was all of those things tonight,” said head coach Mark Cumpian. “Haley has been huge for us since the day she stepped on campus. She’s pitched in a lot of big games in her career and tonight is just two more on that list. Megan Durante had a big night at the plate for us and, overall as a team, I thought we played really good defense and played with great intent. How we need to come out tomorrow with the same focus.”
Prior to Friday, the highest-ranked team that Tarleton has taken a series from was No. 2 West Texas A&M when the TexAnns swept the Lady Buffs in 2012 in Stephenville. It’s also Tarleton’s first-ever series win over Angelo State since the Rambelle program started in 2002.

The TexAnns’ last win against the No. 1 team in the nation was also against Angelo State when Tarleton won the last game of a three-game series 4-3 over the Rambelles on March 26, 2011.
Game 1: Tarleton 2, No. 1 Angelo State 0

Freyman’s big night started in the opener with a seven-single, shutout performance to give Tarleton its sixth win of the season against a nationally-ranked opponent.
The Tarleton right-hander had to do some early dancing as Angelo had a single in the first and a one-out single followed by back-to-back stolen bases in the second to set up a runner on third with one away. Freyman answered in the call with back-to-back strikeouts to escape trouble.
The pitcher’s duel between Freyman and Angelo’s Brandy Marlett stayed scoreless into the bottom of the fifth when Tarleton broke through on a two-out, RBI single into right field by Avery Mullendore to put Tarleton on top. After another shutdown inning by Freyman, Tarleton tacked on an insurance run in the sixth when Megan Durante singled into right field to score Kaitlyn Thomas from second with two away.
Freyman sat down the Rambelles in order in the seventh to cap off her 59^th career win at Tarleton. She allowed seven hits, all singles, in seven innings while striking out five.
Durante led the offense with two hits and an RBI while Mullendore and Mikayla Stogsdill each had one hit.
Game 2: Tarleton 4, No. 1 Angelo State 0

Freyman continued to deal with seven more innings of shutout ball to secure the doubleheader sweep and notch the 60^th win of her Tarleton career, joining Carla Geeslin (62) as the only two TexAnns to win at least 60 games for the purple and white.
After a two-out double and walk in the first inning, Freyman settled into a nice groove as she escaped the first inning with a flyout and then went on to sit down the next 10 consecutive Rambelle hitters heading into the fifth inning.
Meanwhile, her offense supplied her with two early runs when three errors and an RBI single from Stogsdill plated two runs for a 2-0 lead in the second.
Freyman danced out of danger in the fifth when Angelo State threatened with back-to-back one out singles, but the junior right-hander got a swinging strikeout and a groundball to Mullendore at short to keep the Rambelles off the board once again.
Her offense came to her aid with two more runs of support in the ensuing half-inning when Meghann Wrinkle led off with a triple into right field. Nyka Wood drove her home with an RBI single through the left side. Wood gave way to pinch runner Morgan Ling, who was bunted over by Stech and then driven home on an RBI double by Durante with her team-leading 10-game hitting streak.
Over the last two innings, only a controversial single in the sixth and a two-out double in the seventh was hit off Freyman and the Tarleton pitcher notched win No. 14 of the season and No. 60 in her career.
Stogsdill led the way with a two-hit effort while Wrinkle, Wood, Durante, and Flores each had one for the game.
Tarleton and Angelo State will resume the series for one final game tomorrow at 1 p.m., weather permitting, in Stephenville.

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