Bridge City home-schooler Daniel Bean, 11, was recently chosen to represent the USA and Southeast Texas as a member of Coast to Coast Baseball in Puerto Rico this summer.

Joe Encalade rounds the diamonds for The Record. Hometown baseball commentary from a true lover of the game.

The Cardinal Athletic Booster Club (CABC) Baseball Tournament
begins Thursday-Saturday.

Willie Nelson sang that "old age and treachery always overcomes youth and skill." While not treacherous, Billy Joe Griffin showed the kids riding at the Longhorn that old age does not mean that a rider is over the hill.

Starting in October, 2009, and leading up to the final showdown March 20 in Lufkin, the Orange County area had several winners in junior high divisions of Region 5 rodeo competitions.

The Little Cypress-Marucieville High School Bear Iron
Powerlifting team competed in the final qualifier’s meet hosted by West Brook High School on Saturday, Feb. 27. 

The West Orange-Stark boys varsity and junior varsity powerlifting teams placed first and the girls team placed second at the meet at Silsbee on Monday. The varsity boys placed first in three of the four meets they competed in this year.

The Orangefield Lady Cats finished their season Friday with a 35-52 loss to Madisonville in the Class 3A Region III Area Round. Orangefield had advanced to the Area Round after defeating Tarkington 44-24 Feb. 16 to claim the Bi-District Title.

Bridge City and Nederland beat the rain by scrimmaging on Monday the 8th instead of Tuesday. In the 10 innings Coach Chad Landry and the Cardinals played, they managed to have several plate appearances and threw six different pitchers. The Cardinals crossed the plate seven times while the Bulldogs scored four runs in the contest. Forrest Zoch pitched the first two innings, striking out two and allowing no walks.

Baseball practice and scrimmages have started in our area. What a beautiful sound it is, the “ping ” of the ball leaving the bat. Coaches are putting their teams together while playing in their first scrimmage.

The seventh grade Lady Cardinals had an outstanding track meet Thursday.  They placed 2nd in the meet.  The following girls placed in their event:
High Jump – Hannah Faulk and Alexis Henry – 3rd
Discus – Gabby Smith-2nd, Alicia Smith-4th.
Triple Jump – Alexis Henry-1st, Hannah Faulk-6th.
Pole Vault – Haley Hodgkinson-1st, Hannah Faulk-2nd.
Shot Put – Kasey Fredrick-1st, Skylar Kahla-2nd, Taylor Pepper-5th.

Tournament play has begun for Orange County teams. Mother Nature had a little too much to say about it. The tournaments had to be modified. I traveled to Little Cypress-Mauriceville where they were hosting the 2010 Don Gibbens Tournament and witnessed a homerun derby.

For the second year in a row, West Orange-Starks Mustang Relays were held at Orangefield High School, Saturday. WOS won the boys division, Bridge City came in fourth and Orangefield placed 6th.

I traveled to Nederland and caught the first four innings of the  Orangefield/Nederland warm-up game. Orangefield’s outfield exhibited outstanding defense. Corey Huckabay chased down two deep fly balls and Jacob Brown made a nice diving catch in left.

A green bull and an inexperienced rider was a heck of a start at the Longhorn Friday night. The show started and then stopped. It was an unusual night, even for a bull riding.

Tuesday’s loss against Silsbee did not affect the Lady Bobcat’s district standing as they had cinched 2nd place Friday after losing to Hardin Jefferson who claimed 1st.

None of the bulls at the last Longhorn riding did much more than work up a little sweat. The 18 bulls had no trouble putting the 18 riders in the dirt in short order. Several bulls were a little “green.”
Bullfighter Bubba Tacker did a yeoman’s job of keeping the cowboys safe. Several times, had it not been for Tacker jumping in hot spots there would have been some riders with serious injuries.