By Blaine Clamon
Special to The Monitor
TYLER–Kemp Yellowjackets’ baseball continued the Tyler Baseball Tournament on Saturday seeking their first win of the season. Kemp dropped its first two games of the tournament on Friday and started Saturday’s doubleheader against the Beckville Bearcats.
After opening the first inning with a 4-0 lead, Beckville tacked on four more runs with three scored on wild pitches and one on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the second inning for a 8-0 lead.
Kemp got on the board in the top of the fourth inning thanks to a sacrifice fly by Dakota Price to score Cameron Clamon after his leadoff triple and it was 8-1. Beckville extended their lead to 9-1 with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth.
A sacrifice fly from Junior Brooks and an RBI single from Clamon in the top of the fifth inning cut the Bearcat lead to 9-3, but that would be it as the game was called in the bottom half of the fifth inning because of the time limit and Beckville won by that final score. Cameron Clamon led Kemp by going 2-for-3 with a triple and an RBI single plus a run scored.
The second game of the day pitted Kemp against the Jacksonville Indians. The Indians struck first on a bases-loaded walk with one out in the top of the first inning for a 1-0 lead. They added on two runs in the second inning with a sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead.
The Yellowjackets answered in the bottom of the fifth inning as Brooks’ RBI single scored Jack Giffin to make it 3-1. However, the Indians put together six runs in the top of the sixth inning with two players stealing home, a wild pitch, an RBI single, an RBI double, and a sacrifice fly for a commanding 9-1 advantage.
In the bottom half of the sixth, Kemp added a sacrifice fly from Rexx Claxton, an RBI single from Ethan Irvin, and another run as Mason Claver grounded out for a 9-4 deficit and Jacksonville won by that final score. Dakota Price and Jack Giffin both went 2-for-3 as they each had a single and a double.
The Yellowjackets went 0-4 in the tournament and they fall to 0-6 overall to start the season.
The ’Jackets head across town as they take part in the Mabank tournament this weekend, March 8-10.

By Bodey Cooper
Monitor Staff Writer
ROCKWALL–The Kemp Yellowjackets boys’ varsity squad continued their roll Tuesday night as they defeated the Commerce Tigers in a highly-contested 3A Region 2 quarterfinal matchup at Rockwall High School.
The ’Jackets entered the game at 15-7 overall with an 11-3 district record. The Tigers came in with a 25-11 record, including a 12-0 district record.
The ’Jackets jumped out quickly with a three-point shot from Darrel Booker early in the first quarter to take a 4-3 lead.
Boomer Irvin picked up the and-1 minus the free throw to push Kemp’s lead to 10-7.
Irvin added an assist late on an inbound pass to Kane Johnson, who drilled a three-pointer to give the ’Jackets a 15-9 lead heading into the second quarter.
The Tigers tightened the ’Jackets lead to 15-13 before Johnson added another three-point shot to make it 18-13.
Johnson and Austin Williams then went back-to-back with three-point shots to make it 24-18 Kemp late.
The Tigers missed four free throws in the second quarter and Booker picked up an offensive rebound at the end of the second quarter to give the ’Jackets a big 30-18 lead over the Tigers at halftime.
Williams got the first two points for the ’Jackets in the third quarter, but not until there was 6:40 left.
The Tigers then went on an impressive offensive run, culminating with strong defense which forced a 10-second violation on the ’Jackets and led to the Tigers picking up their second lead of the game as they moved ahead 34-32 on a 13-0 run.
Williams added two late free throws for the ’Jackets as he had all four points for Kemp in the third quarter, leaving the contest tied 34-34 heading into the final eight minutes.
Both teams struggled for offense early until Dylan Ashcraft broke through with an and-1 to give Kemp a 37-34 lead.
The Tigers quickly regained the lead 38-37 before Irvin picked up another and-1 for the ’Jackets, adding the free throw to give Kemp a 40-38 lead.
Johnson added his fourth three-pointer of the game to push the lead to 43-38.
Commerce battled back, trailing just 45-42 in the final minute of regulation.
The ’Jackets were able to regain possession, forcing the Tigers to foul late.
Irvin, Ashton Thompson and Jaise Bowie went a combined 5/6 at the line to seal the victory 52-42.
Johnson led the ’Jackets with 18 points against the Tigers.
Irvin added nine, Williams had seven, Thompson had six and Booker finished with five points in the victory over the Tigers.

By Bodey Cooper
Monitor Staff Writer
KERENS–The Eustace Lady Bulldogs bats were in full swing as they picked up the victory over the Kerens Lady Bobcats on the road Feb. 26.
The Lady Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead with four runs in the top of the third inning as they sent 10 batters to the plate.
The Lady Bobcats responded with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the third inning to cut the lead to 4-3.
The Lady Bobcats came up and spotted four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, fueled by multiple walks from freshman Eustace pitchers Gracey Pitchford and Lauren Herring to take a 7-4 lead over the Lady Bulldogs.
The Lady Bulldogs responded with three runs on two hits in the fifth inning to tie the game 7-7.
The Lady Bobcats had runners on first and second in the bottom of the fifth as Mya Lincoln slapped a ground ball to the right side of the infield but was stopped on a diving play by Eustace first baseman Katelyn Ridge to end the inning.
The Lady Bulldogs took an 8-7 lead on a groundout by Kayla Lovelady that plated Jaci Gray after she led the inning off with a double.
The Lady Bobcats went three up, three down in the bottom of the sixth as Olivia Herring struck out back-to-back batters to end the inning.
Eustace added four more runs in the top of the seventh as the Lady Bobcats fell to the Lady Bulldogs by a final score of 12-8.
Haley Purselley led the way for the Lady Bulldogs as she went 3-for-5 at the plate with one RBI and scoring two runs.
Katelyn Ridge, Lovelady and Gray all added two hits apiece for the Lady Bulldogs in the victory.
The Lady Bulldogs plated 12 runs on 13 hits Tuesday night in Kerens. The Eustace pitching staff allowed just four hits to the Lady Bobcats in their non-district contest.
Eustace hits the road as they face the Edgewood Lady Bulldogs March 6 at 4:30 p.m.