Mirror Sports 3-24-10

ARLINGTON – Some-where between Moonlight Graham’s wish in “Field

of Dreams” and Crash Davis’ 21 days in “the show” from “Bull Durham.” In the middle of those baseball movie speeches lies the feeling the Midlothian varsity baseball team got to experience in its game at the Ballpark at Arling-ton.

(If you’re a baseball fan and you’ve never seen either of those two films, I strong encourage you go get them. You won’t be disap-pointed)

As the players warmed up on the field before, those two speech-es ran through my mind on replay over and over again.

The chance to take the field at a major league park is the dream of almost every young athlete from the time he catches his first ball. Kids grow up idolizing sports fig-ures and set dreams of being like

them and playing the big leagues some day. But as we all know, those dreams often stay just that. The reality is only the best of the best rise far enough to come close to being a major league player and the elite status with making it to “the show” is limited to very few.

But for one day, for six and half innings worth of baseball, those dreams basically became reality for the Midlothian baseball team.

Sure, it wasn’t against the Yan-kees or Braves and there wasn’t

Sports irror Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Welcome to ‘the show’

Photo by Alex Riley/The Mirror

Midlothian players listen as the national anthem is played prior to the start of the Aledo game. The Panthers won 11-5.

Panthers get taste of big league atmosphere

The starterARLINGTON – At first, Colton Seeton didn’t know

how to react. He knew the Midlothian baseball team was going to play a game at the Ballpark in Arlington. He knew his services wouldn’t be needed in the games just prior. He also knew that the coaching staff was going to give everyone a chance to play in the major league set-ting.

Still, the honor of being selected as the starting pitcher for the game was something that made butterflies in his stomach flutter a little bit.

“It was a little bit nervewracking. It’s different,” Seeton said. “It was pretty cool. I’ve never pitched in a field this size.”

From warm-up tosses in the bullpen to walking out of the dugout after an introduction, the Midlothian pitcher was treated to a moment in the limelight during a non-district game with Aledo last week. His two innings of work ended with the Panthers holding a 3-2 lead. They would go on to win 11-5.

Every member of the squad who made the trip to Ar-lington got the chance to stand between the lines in the much anticipated experience. For some, it was a moment to remember. For others, it was a moment to shine. For Seeton, it was one strikeout and five other outs he’ll never forget.

“It was the chance of a lifetime,” Seeton said.

The hitterWhen Brian DuPont stepped into the batter’s box for

the first time, he openly admits the thought of sending a ball down the left field line and into the stands was his goal. On the first pitch at least.

“I went up there the first swing and I went hacking. I wanted to put it over that left field fence,” DuPont said with a laugh.

But once the reality of a park whose shortest distance is sometimes the same size as centerfield in a high school

By ALEX RILEY Mirror sports writer

See BASEBALL, Page 5C

ARLINGTON – Before he even stepped into the batter’s box, Blake Lunday was already having a good day. Getting to spend a few min-utes working on his swing in a major league baseball facility was an experience in itself.

The designated hitter was told by coach Ray Hydes he would get the start in the game some-time after warming up. All those elements com-bined to create an extremely memorable day.

“It was quite an experience being able to go down and hit in the cages and stuff like that. It was good, I was pretty fired up about it,” Lunday said. With a shot of confidence in his system, Lun-day went into the batter’s box and produced the biggest day of offense for the Panthers this sea-son as he went 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles, three RBI and two runs scored helping key the team’s 11-5 win over Aledo at the Ballpark in Arlington.

Down 2-0 in the first inning, Midlothian led off the inning with an infield single by Cam-

Lunday brings out the lumber


Midlothian designated hitter Blake Lunday is greet-ed at home plate by teammate Cameron Sissom during Thursday’s game in Arlington. Lunday scored on a triple by teammate Brian DuPont to give the team a 3-2 advantage.

Junior hitter leads offensive surge in professional parkBy ALEX RILEY Mirror sports writer

See LUNDAY, Page 5C

Experience unlike any other

Alex RileyMirror SPorTS WriTer

See RILEY, Page 5C

Midlothian doesn’t waste day in the MLB spotlight

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Sports2C Midlothian Mirror, Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Alex riley, Sports Writer469-517-1456 | [email protected]

JOSHUA – Chase Robertson had kept pretty composed when he scored his first three goals. Number four, however, would require a vic-tory dance.

The senior midfielder recorded his first hat-trick and then went on to a tack another goal to his stat sheet for the night as the Midlothian boys soccer team beat Joshua 5-0 in the bi-district playoff opener.

“It feels especially good since it’s the first hat-trick I’ve ever gotten, the fourth one just capped it off,” Robertson said. “It feels good to just finally start getting the scoring touch back.”

Robertson, one of the veteran players for the Panthers, had yet to record a multi-goal game for the team this season despite being the scoring leader with six goals on the year.

All that changed with just under 20 minutes left in the first half with Midlothian (14-4-6) clinging to a one goal lead. Fellow senior Kevin Ermatinger did get the Panthers on the board first with a goal from an Eric Haston assist less than five minutes into the game.

“That’s my favorite way to start off a game,” Ermatinger said with a laugh.

However, from there the attack went silent until Robertson stepped up.

The senior took a Haston assist in from the right side for an insurance goal that put the squad up 2-0 which held up thanks to a save by Alec Martinez on a breakaway attempt from Joshua. The senior goalie came out to defend the attacker and forced a bad move which allowed him to cover the ball and negate the shot.

The narrow margin was cause for concern for coach Austin Guest as he watched his team come out and play a sluggish first half. After try-ing to emphasize speeding up the tempo and taking control, the Pan-thers retook the field.

Apparently that lesson had been well received by Robertson who started his second half hat-trick with a goal at the 13:22 mark off a Brian Robertson assist. Just 30 seconds later, he would add another

goal on a stolen pass that led to a 4-0 lead and control of the game.

“I thought as a unit we started a little slowly, didn’t play as well as we could have, but Chase just turned it on. He was kind of the engine that drove things tonight,” Guest said. “It’s great to see that kind of play from the old dogs when we needed it.”

About five minutes later, Robert-son got the chance to put the excla-mation point on his night as Brian Robertson found him again with a pass that he fired toward the Joshua net. The shot glanced off an Owl player’s shoulder and into the back of the net to cap the scoring for the team and the incredible individual effort from Robertson for the night.

That score prompted a high-kick celebration near the Midlothian sideline as the Panthers were well on their way to moving on in the playoff bracket.

“It felt pretty good to put it away pretty quickly. We came out a little sluggish in the beginning but once we came in to the second half we knew what we needed to do and went out and did it,” Robertson said.

While it was an impressive per

JOSHUA – During the last few weeks, Kaitlin Bush has become accustomed to be-ing a part of the Midlothian girls soccer team’s offensive game plan. So after she was a non-factor in the first half of Friday’s bi-district match-up with Alvarado, the sophomore decided it was time to step up.

Bush scored three second half goals to record a hat-trick as the Lady Panthers cruised to a 10-0 win over the Lady Indi-ans in the opening game of the

postseason. “It felt really good because

in the first half I didn’t re-ally do anything and then in the second half I came in and scored three goals so I felt like I did my part,” Bush said.

Since a Feb. 24 game against Kennedale, Bush has found her name in the scoring column in all but one game. The mid-fielder scored one goal in five of the last six games, with the only non-scoring night coming in a 2-0 shutout loss against Mansfield Timberview.

She appears to have saved

her biggest offensive explo-sion for the right moment as the Lady Panthers (15-5-2) were uncomfortably up 3-0 at halftime. A Tori Adame goal off an Alex Furr assist almost 15 minutes into the game pro-vided the first points while freshman Riann Winget gave the team some breathing room with a pair of goals off assists by Ashley Cox and Tess Vois-ard late in the first half.

While that 3-0 lead was siz-able, there was very little com-fort on the Midlothian sideline as Alvarado was playing equal-ly as physical and contesting a lot of the team’s passing.

“The wind was blowing a lot in the first half and it was a big factor because it was in our face in the first half. I think we had a lot of good opportunities to shoot from distance but just kind of fizzled out going into the wind,” coach Austin Guest said. “In the second half that helped us out a little bit and we combined a whole lot better. We took too many shots from distance in the wind in the first half I thought. In the second half we combined and played soccer better and it paid off for us.”

With the wind providing an extra push on shots, the Lady Panthers went to work on put-ting the game away early in the second half, starting with Bush. Her first shot came off

Authorative playoff openerLady Panthers roll to 10-0 win over Alvarado


Kaitlin Bush watches as a deflected ball skies into the air during Midlothian’s bi-district game against Alvarado. Bush scored a hat-trick with three goals in the Lady Panthers 10-0 win over the Lady indians. The team moved on to play Western Hills on Monday.


Tess Vosiard (19) congratulates teammate riann Winget (17) after they connected on a goal in the first half. Winget finished with two goals and an assist in the Lady Panthers’ win over Alvarado.

By ALEX RILEY Mirror sports writer

Four scores and nine games to goRobertson’s offensive explosion leads Panthers past Joshua for bi-district titleBy ALEX RILEY Mirror sports writer


Chase robertson, is con-gratulated by teammate Brian robertson, above, after the two hooked up for a second half goal to put the Panthers up 4-0. Chase robertson finished with four goals on the night as Brian robertson added two assists.

Chase robertson, left, had his first multi-goal game of the season in the Panthers 5-0 win over Joshua. robertson, a se-nior, scored four goals, nearly matching his season total of six. The Panthers moved on to play Arlington Heights on Tuesday in the area round of the playoffs.

The Midlothian boys continued their playoff run with a game on Tuesday against

Arlington Heights. results from that

game were not available at press

time.

For playoff updates, see the Waxahachie Daily

Light.

See GIRLS, Page 4C

See BOYS, Page 4C

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SportsWednesday, March 24, 2010 Midlothian Mirror 3C


CORSICANA – With a 15-7 record, the Midlothian softball team isn’t exactly suf-fering through a losing season. However, the team knows it isn’t surging either.

Practice time on the diamond has been lim-ited at best due to unseasonably wet and frigid weather forcing the Lady Panthers to grow as a team when there is actual game play. It isn’t an ideal situation, but it is the one the team is dealing with.

“Our chemistry has to get better to win all the time,” junior first baseman MacKen-zie Grier said after the team squeaked out a win at Corsicana last week. “We’ve just got to be together, hit the ball, make those simple plays.”

Developing team chemistry on the field has been a complicated issue for Midlothian to start the season as the line-up card features a mixed bag of experience and age.

Senior shortstop Brady Luedtke is the an-chor of the infield but surrounding her is a certain level of uncertainty. Grier has been the starter at first all season while freshman Amanda Claus has separated herself from the rest of the pack in taking over at second.

Third base has been the biggest question mark as Michelle Shroeder, Marissa Balti-erra and Aiza Azarcon have all spent time on the hot corner. All three are sophomores with youth causing the constant rotation of players.

In the outfield, Hillary Heisroth is listed as the starting leftfielder but has been moved around during some games as other players get a shot. Teaming with her at different times this year have been Devan Howard, Morgan Crump, Savannah Valderas and Kacy Wil-liams. Recently, senior catcher Jade Laurence made the move from behind the plate to cen-terfield as junior Reagan Luedtke took over at catching duties.

The slew of options in the field has also caused a bit of confusion at the plate as the limited time hitting in practice has forced players to learn on the fly. Over a seven-game span in the San Marcos Tournament two weeks ago, the Lady Panthers left 51 runners on base en route to going 4-3 over the three-day stretch.

Giving players the chance to get used to live game action is important but the window is limited with district play in full swing.

“I want to continue to say we need to quit being so picky. It’s like we’re looking for the perfect pitch to be thrown to us,” coach Jen-

nifer McFalls said. “Good hitters will foul the ball off until they get the one they want. We’ve got some adjustments to make and we need to make them earlier in the game.”

While hitting and fielding have become a work in progress, McFalls is beyond pleased with the effort from the pitching circle. Junior ace Whitney Cowley has been dominating for the majority of the season, including two wins last week over Corsicana and traditional powerhouse Hewitt Midway. Relief pitcher and occasional starter Megan Spence has also played well in her limited appearances.

Though Cowley and Spence have done their jobs, the arms are still waiting to see the defense and hitting order solidify to make a complete team.

“We’ve just all got to start executing our roles. Everybody has a role and until we all start taking care of each other then we’re go-ing to continue getting ourselves in these situ

An experiment in team chemistrySoftball seaching for consistent combination in field, at plate to develop winning formulaBy ALEX RILEY Mirror sports writer


Finding the right combination in the field and at the plate has been the biggest challenge for the Midlothain softball team thus far this year. The Lady Panthers feature seven players who are sophomores or younger.


Sophomore first baseman MacKenize Grier applies the tag to a base runner during a game earlier this year. Grier has locked down her starting spot on the right side of the field while the team continues searching for starters in other roles.

Midlothian iSD roundup

Photo by Gary Puckett/Special to the Mirror

eddie Johnson capped his basketball career by being named the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches All-region team for region 2. The senior averaged a double-double while leading the Panthers to a district title.

Junior varsity softball updateSophia Engle recorded the win as the junior

varsity softball team picked up a 4-1 win at Corsicana over spring break. Patty Coranado hit a home run to lead the offensive effort. The Lady Panthers didn’t fare as well against Hewitt Midway falling 6-1.

Varsity softball updateFrom the first throw, Midlothian pitcher

Whitney Cowley was dialed in. And for the Lady Panthers, that turned out to be a good thing because they would need everything she could give them.

The junior allowed just four hits and two walks over seven innings while striking out 10 batters as the team went on to pick up a 4-2 win over Corsicana.

“She’s really done a nice job lately and she’s really stayed focused on the mound and we need, we need her to do that,” coach Jennifer McFalls said. “Whitney’s just kind of feeling it right now, she’s taking on a nice leadership role and we need to score a few runs for her.”

Cowley allowed just one base runner through the first two innings with that runner reaching on a two out error in the infield. That mistake was the first of three fielding errors on the night that nearly cost the team the game.

While the first error didn’t cost the Lady Panthers the second did as a fielder’s choice turned into a throw away that allowed a base runner from Corsicana to advance to third. The next batter would bring home a run to tie the game at 2-2 in the bottom half of the fifth.

The final error came with Midlothian cling-ing to a two-run lead as the leadoff batter of the inning reached on a fielding error in the infield. That and a fielder’s choice that got no one out eventually led to a bases loaded jam for Cowley with the game on the line. She would respond to the trouble by picking up that 10th strikeout to end the game.

“(It felt) very good, we needed it,” Cow-ley said. “We’ve just all got to start executing our roles. Everybody has a role and until we all start taking care of each other then we’re going to continue getting ourselves in these situations.”

Along with three errors, Midlothian also had two runners get picked off base. Miscues might have kept the Lady Tigers in the game but timely offense ensured the Lady Panthers would leave the field as winners.

That started in the third inning as the top of the order came back around allowing leadoff hitter Brady Luedtke to leg out an infield sin-gle. A fielding error on a sacrifice bunt during Hannah Miller’s at-bat put runners on the cor-ner with one out. First baseman MacKenzie Grier got the Lady Panthers on the board with a single to score a 1-0 lead.

With Corsicana tying the game in the bot-tom half of the inning, Midlothian went back on top in the fifth as a single and error in the

outfield allowed Jade Laurence to advance to second base. She would come around to score on Hillary Heisroth’s single giving the team a 2-1 lead.

That margin only lasted a few moments as Corsicana would tie the game thanks to that error in the fifth inning. The Midlothian re-sponse started with two outs as No. 9 hitter Savannah Valderas reached after being hit by a pitch. Luedtke would untie the game with a double while an error during Miller’s at-bat allowed Luedtke to score for the 4-2 advan-tage.

Timely offense had been an issue for the team which left 51 runners on base during a seven-game stint at a tournament in San Mar-cos over the weekend.

After not getting much on the Corsicana starter through the first inning, the Lady Pan-thers found their hitting stride in the second time through the lineup as numerous players hit the ball well for a total of nine hits from the third inning on. Though it was enough to win on Tuesday, the team knows it needs much more than that for the rest of the season.

“We got to see (Corsicana’s pitcher) and the first couple times we were getting under-neath it and we just had to get on top and pull through,” Grier said. “It was good but we can do better. We’ve got to do better on Friday.”

Midlothian softball team picked up a huge win over perennial power Hewitt Midway at home Friday night with a 6-5 win. Senior out-fielder Hillary Heisroth notched the game

See BRIEFS, Page 4C


Pitcher Whitney Cowley picked up a pair of wins last week as the Lady Panthers improved to 3-1 in district play to start the season.

The post-season honors continue to roll in for Midlothian senior basketball player Eddie Johnson as the post player was named to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches 4A All-Region team for Region 2.

Johnson, who was selected as the District 16-4A MVP, helped lead the Panthers to the regional quarterfinals in the basketball play-offs this season, tied for the deepest run into the playoffs in Midlothian basketball history. The Panthers claimed the district title for the first time since 2003 while clearing the 20-win mark for the first time since 2004.

For the season, Johnson averaged a double-double with 10.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. He also doled out 2.1 assists, blocked 1.6 shots and had 1.5 steals per outing.

The only selection from District 16-4A, Johnson joins fellow Ellis County products Earl Graves and Gaylon Edwards of Red Oak as three representatives from the area. Midlothian and Red Oak squared off against

each other in the regional quarterfinals with the Hawks pulling out a close contest. Italy’s John Isaac was the fourth Ellis County player named to the TABC All-Region team, making the 1AI list.

An all-district selection in football, Johnson will continue his career next fall as a member of the Baylor football team.

Contact Alex at [email protected] or at 469-517-1456.

Senior named all-regionBy ALEX RILEY Mirror sports writer

Johnson joins three other Ellis Co. natives on honor roll list

See SOFTBALL, Page 4C



an assist from Callie Bishop less than three minutes into the period.

Seven minutes later, Adame took a Liz Williams assist in for her second goal of the night as the margin bal-looned. But it was Bush who sealed the win as she took as-sists from Winget and Adame in for back-to-back goals within minutes of each other to make it a 7-0 game.

Winget, who hadn’t scored since a 9-0 win over Ever-man back on Feb. 19, joined veteran player Adame with a brace while both players also added assists to help lead the offensive charge.

“It’s just really good be-cause I’m only a freshman and to be able to play and ac-tually contribute to the team is a really good feeling,” Winget said.

Despite pulling a majority of the starters from the game,

the offense did not stop for Guest and his team as Kali Danner scored off a Cecillie Zuckero assist followed by a Taylor Moulton shot off a cornerkick. Kailea Atkins capped the scoring with time running out on an Ashley Seeton assist.

The 10 goals were the first time this season the Lady Panthers have eclipsed the double-figure scoring mark and it couldn’t have come at a better time. With a game against Fort Worth West-ern Hills looming early next week, the team knows it will have to be on its game to con-tinue advancing.

Friday’s outcome is hope-fully a good sign they’ll do just that.

“It was really important (to start strong) because the next team we play they’ll know that we mean business and we want to get to state,” Bush said.


formance at the perfect time, the Panthers know they’ll need a well-rounded effort to continue their season as the playoffs progress. The Panthers will face Arlington Heights early next week in the second round of the playoffs for the area championship.

“It feels great (to start like this) and being a senior this year and not playing soccer in college, any game from here on out could be my last game,” Ermatinger said.


The Midlothian girls continued their

playoff run with a game on Monday against Western

Hills. results from that game were not available at press

time.

For playoff updates, see the Waxahachie

Daily Light.

winning single to drive in the RBI as she capped her big night at the plate. Heisroth also had a triple in the game.

Cowley earned the win as Midlothian (15-7, 3-1 district) rallied from a 5-1 deficit to win in the final inning of play. Cowley tossed the complete game with five runs allowed on seven hits.

Junior catcher Reagan Luedtke hit a double while Midlothian also capitalized on three Midway errors.

Ninth-grade baseball updateThe freshman baseball team played in the

Waxahachie tournament this last weekend. The Panthers started out the tournament by losing to Lake Dallas 5-1. The Panthers re-ceived solid pitching from Bryce Fausett and found themselves in a 1-1 game when a rain storm came and delayed the game for about 10 minutes. The rain stopped and took the Panther mojo with it. Outstanding defensive performances were turned in by Kyle Lump-kin and Garrett Ayala. The freshmen were led offensively by Dustin Martin and Tanner Dickerson, who drove in the only Panther run of the night.

The boys bounced back against a solid Mesquite Poteet team winning by a score of 8-3. Garrett Ayala pitched an excellent game and Brett Breaud came in and closed the door on the Pirates. The Panthers were paced de-fensively by Dylan Higdon and Dickerson. Offensive standouts were Martin, Dickerson and Fausett who each had two hits in the ball-game.

The Panthers found themselves in the con-solation championship game against the En-nis Lions and proceeded to hammer them by a score of 9-3. Chad Anders pitched an outstanding game only giving up one earned run. David Busse came in and struck out the last batter of the game to seal the deal for the Panthers. Sean Rodarte made an outstanding catch in center field that saved two runs for the freshman. David Busse, Kyle Lumpkin, Josh Tobolka, Dylan Higdon and Brett Breaud all contributed with hits in the game and helped the Panthers put nine runs on the board.

After tournament play wrapped up, the Panthers started district play on Monday in Cleburne against the Yellowjackets. Shane Lunday started the ballgame on the mound and pitched two quality innings. Higdon came in and pitched the last five innings of the game and turned in one of the best performances of the season for the freshman baseball team. He struck out 10 batters and did not give up a run.

The defensive standouts in the game were Lumpkin, Driggers, and Tobolka. The major

offensive contributers were Fausett, Kyle Lumpkin, Lunday, Rodarte and Martin. The Panthers won their first district game by a score of 10-5.

Junior varsity baseball updateAfter suffering some early growing pains

the Panthers have been plugging along win-ning eight in a row and avenging an early sea-son set back to Red Oak.

The Red Oak tournament began with a fa-miliar opponent in the Waxahachie Indians. After going down 1-0 early, and some rivalry run over, the Panthers fire was lit and pro-ceeded to pound on the Indians by scoring five in the third inning. Hunter Hipsman, Aus-tin Saye and Zac Cambron all had doubles. Matt Young did a solid job on the hill throw-ing four-plus innings and giving up only one run in the victory.

Next on the agenda were the Joshua Owls. The Panthers spent no time in showing the Owls who was boss by scoring seven runs in the first and nine runs in the third and slid-ing their way into their second run rule of the tournament in a 14-3 affair. Grant Freels, af-ter some early troubles found his rhythm, and three solid innings for the victory.

The Cedar Hill Longhorns and next year’s district opponent came wanting a shot at the title in the third game of the tournament. Once again, the Panthers showed who the big dogs were with a 9-1 victory. Matt McDonald did a great job of bringing the heat, getting the complete game. Sawyer Golden had two RBI and Christian Baude ripped the cover off the ball for the Panthers.

In the championship Midlothian looked to continue its winning ways as it saw the one

blemish on the record this season, the Red Oak Hawks. Tyler Colburn got the nod for the Panthers and threw well. After going ahead 5-0 the Panthers found themselves on the wrong end of a rally. Red Oak had tied the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the fifth inning. With only six outs left the Panthers went to work scoring four in the top of the sixth and adding some insurance with two more in the top of the seventh for an 11-5 victory. This was the second tournament in a row the Pan-thers brought home the first place hardware.

Varsity baseball updateFollowing a tough weekend in the I-30

Classic, the Panthers looked to make the most of three games during spring break. That plan got off to a rocky start as Midlothian was dealt a 4-1 loss by Cleburne in the team’s first home game of the season.

Jake Baer took the loss as the Cleburne pitcher limited Midlothian to just four hits on the night. Baer and the Midlothian staff only allowed five hits but a pair of errrors helped the Yellowjackets’ cause. Alec Humphries and Zach Walker each had a double in the loss.

The team responded with a big 11-5 win over Aledo in a game at the Ballpark in Ar-lington (see page 1 for details).

A day after thumping Aledo 11-5 in a game at the Rangers Ballpark at Arlington, there was no letdown for the Midlothian baseball team as it rolled past Corsicana 9-0 on Friday night.

Devin Rogers picked up the win by allow-ing just five hits as the Panthers (11-8, 2-1 dis-trict) kept the hot offense coming.

Designated hitter Blake Lunday, who hit a pair of doubles while driving in three runs during the Aledo game, kept hacking away as he belted a pair of home runs to lead the offensive charge. Teammate Zach Walker notched a double as the team scored nine runs on seven hits while capitalizing on three Cor-sicana errors.

Youth night at Panther fieldYoung players and their families are invited

to Youth Night, held Friday, April 2, when the Midlothian Panther baseball team hosts Waco High. MABA and select players who wear their jerseys to the game will be admitted free and get to be a part of the pre-game activities. A lucky few will even get to throw out the first pitch to a varsity player.

Mark your calendars and plan to attend this special event. Game time is set for 7 p.m. Ticket prices are $4 for adults and $3 for stu-dents.

GirlsContinued from Page 2C


Teammates congratu-late Tori Adame (14) after scoring one of her two goals in the 10-0 win over Alvarado. The Lady Panthers faced Western Hills in the second round of the playoffs Monday night. results were pending at press time.

BoysContinued from Page 2C


Midlothian’s Kevin ermantinger scored the first goal of the playoffs as the Panthers rolled 5-0.

BriefsContinued from Page 3C


Senior pitcher Devin rogers earned the win over Corsicana as the Panther baseball team improved to 2-1 in dis-trict play with a 9-0 win.

The girls powerlifing team capped off an outstanding season with four top 10 finishes in the state meet on Saturday in Corpus Christi. The team, con-sisting of Lexi Ball, Stephanie Horton, Kate Tulley and Kristine robinson, all lifted very well against the top lifters in the state of Texas. Final results from the meet were eighth place finishes in their respective divisions for Lexi Ball and Kristine robinson while Stephanie Horton and Kate Tulley each finished in ninth in their respective divisions.

Girl powerlifters bring home top 10 finishes

ations,” Cowley said. McFalls has the same hope for her team

which keeps searching for continuity and consistence in all areas of play. Once they have that, who knows how good they can be.

“(Whitney’s) been sitting back for two years waiting for this opportunity so she wants it, I know she does. She’s done a nice job for us and down the stretch we’re going to need her and Megan both,” McFalls said. “We’ve talked about that all year long that they both bring something different and right now Whitney’s just kind of feeling it right now, she’s taking on a nice leadership role and we need to score a few runs for her.”


SoftballContinued from Page 3C

Upcoming scheduleMarch 26@ ennis7 p.m.

March 30vs. Waco High 7 p.m.

April 2vs. Waxahachie7 p.m.

April 6vs. Cleburne7 p.m.

SportsWednesday, March 24, 2010 Midlothian Mirror 5C


facility set in, DuPont settled on doing the next best thing. The junior third baseman’s triple in the second inning scored a pair of runs and tied the game up at 2-2. Teammate Colton Clanton would get an RBI groundout in the Panthers’ next at-bat to break the deadlock and ensure Midlothian would never trail again. DuPont’s head-first slide into home plate made sure it was a dramatic way to take the lead.

The sheer size of the park and DuPont’s speed on the bases allowed him to turn a pitch into one of the team’s three extra base hits on the day.

“It’s a little bit bigger than a regular field. A little flair will get you a double so it was good to see it,” DuPont said. “I just wanted to fire up the boys. I knew I had to get a big hit, was down 0-2 and just wanted to get an opposite field hit and he threw me a curveball.”

Some major league players go their entire lives without be-ing able to leg out a triple as it is one of the hardest feats to accomplish in baseball. That alone made the plate appearance something DuPont will never forget.

“It’s crazy. It’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” DuPont said.

The relieverDaniel Tockhorn has spent his season between two positions

– first base and the pitching mound. After teammate Devin Rogers threw the night before, Tockhorn knew his role during the Aledo game would be as a relief pitcher as Rogers would get to play the field.

So as he took the mound in the top of the fifth, Tockhorn made the most of his time. Only problem was his best effort resulted in the shortest inning.

On less than 12 pitches, the junior retired the Aledo side in one of only three innings in which the line-up was retired in order for the whole game. After getting the leadoff hitter to flyout to right, Tockhorn picked up back-to-back looking strikeouts to finish off the inning and keep momentum firmly in the Midlothian corner.

Tockhorn admits the surroundings might have had a thing or two to do with his amped up effort.

“I feel like I was throwing the ball well,” Tockhorn said. “I felt like I was throwing harder when I was out there.”

The dream of playing in the majors is one almost every player in the Panther dugout shares. Many will try with only a few even coming close.

Still, the moment on the mound was something that Tock-horn says he won’t forget. If being out there can fuel two strikeouts and a dominant inning, maybe the memory can keep pushing him towards getting another chance.

“Hopefully one day,” Tockhorn said.

The coachKeeping the team focused was a hard sell for coach Ray

Hydes at times. The nerves of playing in a major league park can wear on a teenage kid.

It can have that same affect on a grown man. “I think a lot of them at first, including myself, were a little

big eyed. But one of the things we did do was we said it’s the same distance as far as bases, mound. Things are a little bit bigger obviously in the setting around it but they responded,” Hydes said. “They battled. I think everybody was focused and just excited about playing here.”

A night after dropping a tough home opener to Cleburne, Hydes knew his players would be fired up about playing in a major league setting. Harnessing that energy into a winning effort would be the key.

After falling behind 2-0, the veteran coach saw his team re-spond by reeling off 10 unanswered runs before going on to win 11-5.

The experience of being able to play on a major league field was enough to make most players happy. Getting the win was just icing on the cake.

With a game against county-rival Waxahachie slated for the park next year, the stakes will only be higher when the Pan-thers return. It’s still going to be a fun trip no matter what.

“The kids and even me as a coach being in a big league dug-out as far as coaching and letting these kids experience all this stuff it’s just been great. The Rangers are awesome for letting high school baseball do this,” Hydes said.


20,000 fans cheering from the stands. Instead it was Aledo and probably about 4,000 or so folks showed up. Do you think that really matters when these players reflect on the experi-ence?

It’s one thing to show up and play in an MLB park. It’s another to succeed. The Panthers did just that.

The bats pounded out hits, the

defense got the chance to flash the leather and the pitching responded to the challenge.

Moonlight Graham talked about stretching a double into a triple. Brian DuPont did that. Crash Davis spoke on getting to hit in batting practice. Blake Lunday used the time in the cages to spark a two double day. The sky was so blue you had to squint at it. And the park, well it was the cathedral it was billed as.

Next season, the Panthers will face off with county-rival Waxahachie at the Ballpark in Arlington since the

two schools will be different classi-fications. No doubt the stakes in that game will be high and with both teams already having played in the park previously, some of the jitters will subside.

In the grand scheme of things, it was six and half innings. But for the Panthers, it was memories that will last a lifetime.

Alex is a sports writer covering Midlothian athletics. Contact him at [email protected] or at 469-517-1456.

Sissom. That’s when Lunday stepped up and started his assault at the plate. A hit to left that rolled all the way to the wall resulted in his first double that put two aboard for teammate Brian DuPont.

The starting third baseman would make the most of his first plate appear-ance smacking a two-run triple to right that tied the game up as Lunday lum-bered home from second.

Clinging to a 3-2 lead in the third in-ning, the Panthers opened up by loading the bases on a pair of walks and a single to bring Lunday back to the plate. The junior broke things wide open with a three-run double for a 6-2 advantage as he hustled over to third on a throw to the plate.

Teammate Colton Clanton scored Lunday on the sacrifice play to center as Midlothian moved out to a 7-2 lead and never looked back.

When the season started, Lunday was a regular on the line-up card for the team as his power could provide a much-needed spark for the team. Both Lunday and Hydes were disappointed in his start to the season as the all-district offensive lineman for the football team hadn’t pro-duced as expected.

After his performance against Aledo, it was apparent that Lunday’s confi-dence had returned as he went out the next game against Corsicana and blasted a pair of home runs in a district win.

“Blake’s been a kid that we knew all year had to drive in some runs. He’s been struggling a little bit. We started him off early DH-ing and here lately he wasn’t swinging the bat real well,” Hydes said. “But we just felt like today we said we were going to give him a chance to bat and he really responded and that’s what he’s got to do for us. He’s an RBI guy and we’ve got to get him going in that direction.”

Lunday’s big effort at the dish pro-vided two of the team’s three extra base hits on the day and fueled one of the best offensive days this season.

While the performance was one Lun-day was excited about, getting to help his team pick up a big win in the major league enviroment was a special day. Hopefully it is the start of many more big days to come.

“Pretty exciting to be out here and just play out here on the field, it was great. This is probably my best day at the plate so it was good,” Lunday said.


BaseballContinued from Page 1C

LundayContinued from Page 1C


Blake Lunday made the most of his day at a big league plate, blast-ing a pair of doubles to go along with three rBi and two runs scored. After struggling through the last few weeks, Lunday used his day in Arlington to propell himself forward as the junior smacked a pair of home runs during Midlothian’s district win over Corsicana a few days later.

rileyContinued from Page 1C


is this heaven? No, it’s Arlington. While the dream of becoming a major league baseball is one that many players will not reach, the chance to play at the Ballpark in Arlington definitely provides fuel for dreams like that. The Panthers will take to the major league park again next season with a game against rival Waxahachie, raising the stakes in a big-time atmosphere. The indians have played at the Ballpark in Arlington in each of the last two seasons.

Upcoming scheduleMarch 26@ University7 p.m.

March 30@ ennis7 p.m.

April 2vs. Waco High7 p.m.

April 6vs. Waxahachie7 p.m.



A day in the bigsPanthers take crack at Ballpark in Arlington against Aledo

Photos by Alex Riley/The Mirror

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Mirror Sports 3-24-10