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Quarterfinal catfight begins tonight
By Van Hilburn
Published May 21, 2009
The eighth-ranked Paris Wildcats got their first playoff test Tuesday against a pretty good Fort Worth Castleberry squad.
Tonight they begin what some would call the playoff midterms, as Paris (23-5) opens a best-of-three Class 3A baseball Region 3 quarterfinal series against a seasoned Kennedale Wildcat squad (22-4-1), which ended the regular season ranked 10th in the high school coaches’ poll.
Game 1 is 7:30 p.m. tonight at Paris Junior College’s Hub Hollis Field. Game 2 moves 140 miles into Tarrant County where the two teams will play at 10 a.m. Saturday at Kennedale High. Game 3, if necessary, will follow.
Ironically, it was almost a year ago today that Kennedale saw its postseason run end at the hands of Texarkana Pleasant Grove with a 10-0 shutout in a regional semifinal game at Hub Hollis Field.
“Kennedale seems to be in the playoffs every year,” Paris coach Bill Sikes said. “They’re always there and this year they have one of the top pitchers in the state in Brady Capshaw.”
Expect to see Capshaw on the mound tonight, or at least in Game 2, for Kennedale. He pitched a four-hitter against Prosper, helping his team to a 9-4 area-round win on Monday.
Paris will likely counter with sophomore right-hander Lance Fields, who is a perfect 9-0 on the mound.
Kennedale, which started the season with a 17-1 record, earned the No. 1 seed from District 12-3A by beating Crandall in a one-game district playoff game, then knocked off Prosper to earn a trip to the quarterfinal round.
Paris, which dropped down from Class 4A this season, is making its first postseason appearance since 2006 and first trip to the quarterfinal round since 2000 when it was swept by Mesquite Poteet.
Kennedale has made 14 consecutive trips to the playoffs and is seeking its first state title. The Tarrant County Wildcats were swept by Texarkana Liberty-Eylau in 2006 in the regional semifinal round, and lost in semifinals again in 2002 to Monahans.
Common opponent for both Paris and Kennedale is Fort Worth Castleberry. The Wildcats’ 4-0 shutout of the Lions on Tuesday was the first time they had played Castleberry. Kennedale, however, scored a 16-6 win on Feb. 27 and a 15-5 win on March 17, against Castleberry.
Paris, which won a school-record 17 consecutive games prior to losing a tune-up game to Granbury, did not have its usual offensive game against Castleberry on Tuesday in McKinney, as it scored four runs off four hits. The local Wildcats got enough runs to win the game, while relying on a three-hit performance from senior pitcher Jon Mark Abbey.
Sikes says it may take more offense to win a series against Kennedale.
“I’m expecting a tough series, no doubt, because they know how to swing the bats. They are the real deal,” Sikes said.
The winner of the Paris/Kennedale series advances to the Region 2 semifinal to take on the winner of the Pleasant Grove/Pittsburg series, which starts at 7 p.m. today at Northeast Texas Community College in Mount Pleasant. Game 2 is Friday at 7 p.m. at PJC and Game 3, if necessary is 2 p.m. Saturday at PJC. Pleasant Grove won District 16-3A with a perfect 10-0 record, while Pittsburg was third in that district behind Atlanta, which lost to Farmersville in the area round.
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