Sports

ROLL ON - The varsity Bulldog baseball team won two of three hardball games over the break, including a 10-2 road win over district opponent Winters on Tuesday of last week and a non-district 13-2 home victory over Grandview’s junior varsity on Saturday. Sandwiched in between, the Dogs dropped a competitive 5-3 district contest in Hamilton to Coleman last Friday. Chase Weaver added another 14 strikeouts to his resume in Hamilton’s dominant win over Winters, and Ryan Worbington commanded the mound and the victory over Grandview, striking out six in four innings of work. The now 7-6 on the year and 2-1 in district Bulldogs were scheduled to resume district competition on Tuesday at home versus Goldthwaite and will travel on Friday to face Miles at 4:30 p.m. Hamilton’s junior varsity will host a double-header versus Miles on Friday with the first pitch scheduled for noon. Next Tuesday, the varsity Dogs will welcome Miles to town for a 5:30 p.m. ballgame. Pictured, Sutton Lee has remained hot at the plate for the Bulldogs. After drawing two walks and driving in a pair of runs in Hamilton’s win over Winters, Lee went two for three and recorded a team high three RBIs versus Grandview on Saturday. Photo by Julie Weaver

AND THEY’RE OFF - Following last week’s spring break, the Hamilton High School track teams are scheduled to return to the field of competition on Thursday of this week in Brownwood with events set to begin at 10 a.m. The Lady Bulldogs will be defending back-to-back track championships, and the varsity Bulldogs will be chasing gold after placing second in their first two meets of the season, including silver medal team performances in both Tolar and Comanche. Before hosting the junior high Extraco Relays next Monday at 3:30 p.m., Hamilton’s junior high track teams will first be in action this Friday at 3:30 p.m. in Clifton. Pictured, varsity Lady Bulldog sprinter Averi Poe hands the baton to Peyton Raibourn, and Bulldog Baylyn Parrish is pictured passing the stick to Jaydon Watson during the Tolar Rattler Relays’ sprint relay competition. Staff photos/Lengefeld

BRING IT ON - The now 6-4 Lady Bulldogs received a bump in the district standings last Friday and are now 4-3 in district thanks to a forfeit by Covington who was unable to field a team to bus to Hamilton. The Road Dogs are scheduled to return to the softball diamond in Meridian for round two of district competition this Friday at 5:30 p.m. Hamilton opened district back on February 22 with a 24-9 home win over Meridian. Next Tuesday, the Lady Dogs will look for redemption as they host Blum at 5:30 p.m. after falling to the Lady Bobcats 19-4 in the first round. Pictured, senior pitcher Skylar Carr signals to her team that there are two outs after chalking a strikeout Staff photo/Hinton

ALL-DISTRICT BASKETBALL - 10 varsity Bulldogs earned District 12-2A basketball honors. Seniors Mason Guinn and Keegan Votaw each received first team all-district nods, and junior guard Bryson Tarpley was named to the second team. Freshman Mike Bushnell was dubbed the district’s Sixth Man of the Year, and senior Jaydon Watson received honorable mention recognition. Joining Guinn, Votaw, Tarpley and Watson on the academic all-district list were Caden Hopper, Baylyn Parrish, Chase Weaver, Sutton Lee and Cooper LeGrande. Senior all-district honorees pictured (l-r) with Head Coach Ryan Marwitz include Mason Guinn (first team), Jaydon Watson (honorable mention) and Keegan Votaw (first team). Bryson Tarpley (15) was named to the second team, and Mike Bushnell (12) was the District 12-2A Sixth Man of the Year. Staff photos/Lengefeld

STRIKE: In five innings of work, Bryson Tarpley (pictured) struck out seven and allowed just three hits last week versus Coleman. The Dogs fell to the visiting Bluecats 5-3 in a controversial ballgame that saw an obvious grand slam by Chase Weaver erased due to an umpire mistakenly calling Weaver’s apparent four-run dinger over the right field fence a foul ball. Video evidence reviewed following the game showed the ball exiting the field in fair territory. Photo by Julie Weaver

Senior Jose Najera qualified for and will compete in the Division 4 Powerlifting State Championships this Friday at the Taylor County Expo Center in Abilene beginning at 5 p.m. Najera is currently ranked fourth out of the top 16 competitors in his weight division after bench pressing a total of 350 pounds, squatting 600 and deadlifting 480 for a total of 1430 pounds in the three events. Photo by Tracy Cox

Lady Bulldogs Karah Niemann (left) and Peyton Raibourn (right) were all smiles as they represented HHS while enjoying a round of golf at Squaw Valley last week. Below, Davin Crouch tees off in Glen Rose. Staff photos/Hinton

For the second consecutive week, the Lady Bulldogs perched themselves atop the standings in a track meet. Competing in the Comanche Tribe Relays last Thursday, the Lady Dogs accumulated 236 points to Millsap’s 116, Comanche’s 114 and Hico’s 110. Campbell Lengefeld repeated as the top athlete at the meet, tallying a total of 39 points. Cortland Mehaffey was the second top point earner with 37. Also finishing in the top 10 in Comanche were Madison Henkes in fifth with 23 points and Mia Coker seventh with 21.

After posting three runs in the bottom of the first, the Bulldogs held on for a 3-1 win in their district opener versus DeLeon in Hamilton on Tuesday of last week.