NEW WAVERLY — Rhett Bohannon believes the Bulldogs have the talent to get to the state baseball tournament. The lone senior on New Waverly’s district-championship team, Bohannon says he’s not thinking about a trip to Austin right now.
He’s trying to focus on one pitch, and one game at a time, and hoping his teammates do the same.
“We’re in uncharted territory right here,” the slick-fielding shortstop said during a break in practice Wednesday. “We went to the playoffs last year, but we’ve never been this deep in baseball — not for a long time anyway. I’d say that’s our only weakness. We just don’t have a ton of experience at this stage in the playoffs.”
That may not matter much with this bunch of Bulldogs. New Waverly (23-3) can pitch, hit and play defense with all 15 of the teams left in the Class 2A field.
Starting tonight in the opening game of a best-of-three Region III semifinal series against seventh-ranked White Oak, Bohannon says the Bulldogs simply need to concentrate on the job in front of them and stop thinking about the regional finals or a trip to the University of Texas’ Disch-Falk Field next month.
“We can play baseball with any team. As long as we go out and play our best game, we’re going to be a tough out,” Bohannon said.
The Bulldogs have been playing some good baseball since starting the postseason early last week. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity to get the playoffs going, New Waverly rolled over Deweyville 15-2 in the area round, then the Dogs swept a series from Shelbyville without much trouble.
“I think we’ve got the momentum going again now,” sophomore first baseman Tate Maddox said. “We run-ruled Deweyville, then we run-ruled Shelbyville. We finished that series by winning a close game last Saturday. We’re playing much better as a team right now.”
That’s a good thing, coach Tommy Bohannon said, because the Bulldogs will need to play close-to-perfect baseball this weekend to reach the Region III finals.
“We know we have to play our best baseball in the playoffs up to this point,” coach Bohannon said. “I feel like our kids are ready to do that. White Oak seems to be pretty well-rounded defensively and pitching-wise. Offensively, they have some weapons, too. We saw their catcher, who’s a big, strong kid, hit one about 400 feet against Franklin last weekend, the home run that put them up 5-2 and gave them some cushion in a close game.
“When there are only 16 teams left, everybody’s got to be pretty good,” the coach added. “If we’re on our game and they’re on their game, naturally it’s going to be a great series.”
White Oak, ranked seventh in the state and the runner-up from District 18-2A, swept a bi-district series from Jefferson 6-3 and 16-2 before edging Nacogdoches Central Heights 5-4 in a one-game area contest. Last weekend, the Roughnecks swept Franklin 11-4 and 5-2 to advance to the Region III semifinals.
Coach Bohannon and a few of the Bulldogs snuck over and saw the last four innings of White Oak’s victory over Franklin last Saturday. He said the Roughnecks probably won’t make as many costly mistakes.
“Their pitchers did a good job keeping the ball around the plate. They’re not going to beat themselves by putting people on base,” the Bulldogs coach said. “We’re going to have to earn our runs. If we get any extra chances, we know those will be at a premium so we’re going to have to make the most of those opportunities.”
The Dogs say they are ready for the challenge that starts tonight and continues Saturday afternoon in Pollok.
“All of our pitchers can shut anybody out,” Maddox said of the Dogs’ four-man rotation of Matt Roberts, Cole Bohannon, Matt Gray and Ryan Reyes. “We’ve just got to keep our minds in the game and play solid defense behind our pitchers.”
Eli Amador added, “We’ve got to play hard, and to the end. We need to keep putting the bat on the ball, throw strikes and play good defense. Those are the secrets.
“I feel like we can go to state as long as we play like we’ve been playing. ... We’ve got no weaknesses at all. Our pitchers can put the ball wherever they want. They can blow it by anybody, but they’re also able to slow it down and keep hitters off balance. We just want to keep this thing going.”
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Bulldogs clicking on all cylinders as playoff run reaches region semis
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Raring to go
They’re as ready as they’re going to be. With two weeks to prepare from their district meet, the Huntsville swimmers will take the next step toward qualifying for state today. Over the next two days, a group of Hornets and Lady Hornets will take part in the Class 4A Region V swimming meet at the Magnolia I.S.D. Natatorium with the preliminaries taking place today and the finals on Saturday.
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Next week’s playoff matchups all set
After spending countless hours in the gym, the hard work has paid off for both the girls basketball teams from Huntsville and New Waverly. Now the fun begins as the Class 4A and 2A girls basketball playoffs get going next week.
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OUTGUNNED: First-place Mavericks shoot down Sam Houston, run winning streak to 14
Texas-Arlington had an answer for every Sam Houston run Wednesday night on the way to a 75-63 victory over the Bearkats. It was the Mavericks’ 14th consecutive win and improved their Southland Conference record to 10-0.
The last team to start league action with such perfection was Sam Houston in 2010, a team which won the conference’s regular season as well as the postseason tournament championship. -
Championship salute
The Southland Conference champs from Sam Houston State received special recognition on Wednesday night for the most successful football season in school history.
Huntsville Mayor Mac Woodward, SHSU President Dana Gibson and Walker County Judge Danny Pierce were among those who honored the Bearkats during halftime of the Bearkats’ basketball game against Texas-Arlington.
Woodward declared Feb. 8 Bearkat Pride Day. -
Bearkat women win again, 61-45
Britni Martin scored 18 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead Sam Houston State to a 61-45 Southland Conference women’s basketball victory over UT-Arlington on Wednesday at the new UTA College Park Center in Arlington.
All four of Martin’s field goals were 3-pointers and the junior forward from Conroe went 6-of-6 from the foul line to post her 17th double-figure scoring performance of the season. -
Alive and kicking
For the third consecutive game, the Hornets played like a team that does not want basketball season to end anytime soon.
Desperate to notch another victory over Willis, the Huntsville boys jumped on the Wildkats early. The Hornets used their muscle and started pulling away in the second half, then when Willis made a late rally, Huntsville’s hungry bunch had enough energy left to hold off the Wildkats in a wild 76-63 victory at the Paul Bohan Hornet Gym. -
Lady Hornets roll through district undefeated again
The Lady Hornets did it again. For the second consecutive season, the Huntsville girls basketball team rolled through District 18-4A play without a loss.
On Tuesday night in Willis, the Lady Hornets closed out another perfect 14-0 district campaign with an 86-33 win over the LadyKats. -
New Waverly seniors close out regular season in style
In their final game of the regular season, the Lady Bulldogs just enjoyed themselves in a 60-46 win over Anderson-Shiro.
This was a team New Waverly beat on the road earlier in the season and a win in “Bulldog Country” would be the appropriate way to send out seniors Myeisha Williams, Morgan Eastland, Whitney McCullough and Alex Abbott. - More Sports Headlines
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