Published: April 24, 2008 01:58 pm            

Palestine finishes season with win over Westwood

By SALLY SEXTON

H-P Sports Writer



Tuesday night’s district finale between Westwood and Palestine may not have meant much in the scheme of the playoffs, but that didn’t stop either team’s efforts.

Ultimately, it was the Wildcats who prevailed, 11-6, at Nichols Field.

“I think it’s good for the seniors and the younger guys to end the season on a positive note,” Palestine head coach Jason Broomas said. “These kids had to overcome a lot this season, and they never quit.

“I can’t say enough about the character of this team and it makes my job a lot easier with players like that.”

Palestine ends the season with a 5-5 district record while Westwood falls to 0-10.

It was the Panthers who got off to the offensive start as Luke Holder started the bottom of the third inning with a single and Bruce Smith’s RBI single made it 1-0.

Jess Huddleston and Ryan Mackie each followed with singles before Seth Gilkey’s ground out scored Smith to put Westwood up 2-0.

Then came the Wildcats.

The first four Palestine batters of the fourth inning drew walks to score Cody Singletary and an error and a another walk gave the Wildcats their first lead of the game at 3-2.

But they were not done yet.

Austin Daugherty hit a two-run single and Gary Scoggin added another RBI to make it a 6-2 game, and the Wildcats capitalized on a double and a walk to end the inning with a 9-2 lead.

The Panthers tried to rally in their next at-bat as Travis Berryhill drew a walk and Smith’s single put runners on first and third with two outs before Huddleston connected on a triple to the outfield wall to score the two runs and make it 9-4.

Palestine pushed the lead back to 11-4 after adding two more runs in the top of the fifth, but Westwood tried to rally again in the bottom of the sixth.

Holder reached on a single down the third base line to lead things off and Huddleston had a double to put both runners in scoring position.

It allowed Gilkey and Aaron Stanhope to get back-to-back RBI singles and get the Panthers within five runs, the closest they would get.

“It’s hard when you’re struggling and this team had several opportunities to hang things up, but they never quit,” Westwood head coach William Raphelt said. “They came out here and played their hearts out the entire ball game.”

Singletary was a leading hitter for the Wildcats, going 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and run scored while Westwood’s Huddleston went 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored and was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle.

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Sally Sexton can be reached via e-mail at sports2@palestineherald.com

        

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