Ponies, Navarro split conference showdown
The Panola Watchman
3/18/08

CORSICANA - Anthony Washington started to the plate, hesitated and was eventually thrown out from center field on a bad-nasty throw over the third baseman's head that ricocheted off the top of the Panola dugout and right into the hands of the Ponies' catcher for an out that allowed the visitors to split a Conference XIV doubleheader here Saturday.
By winning the opener, 6-5, on that weird, game-ending play, Panola was able to position itself for a sweep, but the Bulldogs (19-4, 3-1) would have none of that, winning smartly in a 12-9 melee.
"Baseball is a game of inches," Navarro coach Whoa Dill told the Corsicana Sun's Shawn Edwards. "A throw like that usually goes into the dugout, but instead it hit the top of the dugout and stayed in play right back to their guy."
Washington's hesitancy was enough to get the third out.
Go figure!
Panola (28, 2-2 in XIV) scored four runs in the first on an error, a RBI single by Brandon Choate and a three-run homer by Mason Denson for a 4-0 lead.
Early in the outing, the wind was Panola's Nemesis.
A fly ball by Brock Holt was misjudged, resulting in a triple and a run.
In the third, Kyle Livingston's hit resulted in a double and when he eventually scored, it closed the gap to 4-3.
Holt, who had played 20 games without an error, made the first of two miscues in the opener and allowed a Panola runner at second to score.
In the seventh, Holt overthrew his first baseman again and Shane Fry was able to score the game-winning marker shortly.
Navarro (19-4, 3-1) righted itself with 13 hits and no errors in the nine-inning finale.
Trailing 7-4 in the last of the fourth, Bulldogs took over with a five-run uprising boosted by Jaron Shepherds' second home of the season.
When Panola scored solo runs in the sixth and eighth innings to rally to within 10-9, Navarro tacked on two in the last of the eighth for insurance and ended with momentum again.
Panola has now split two league doubleheaders on the road and needs to start a sweep in its conference home opener Wednesday with Lon Morris.
During spring break, Panola will be at Angelina March 21.
The standings currently find Bossier Parrish C.C., Navarro and Paris all 3-1; Panola, Northeast tied for fourth at 2-2, and Angelina and Lon Morris in the cellar at 1-3.
Note: Pony freshman Mason Denson is No. 4 in hitting in the conference with a .571 average.
Chase Weir (.364) ranks 16th, mate Brandon Choate (.357) is 18th, Kofi Osei-Aning and Jared Myrick (.333) are tied in the 25th spot.
Kory Cleveland is tied for the best earned run average in conference, a perfect 0.00. Chad Sherman's 3.86 has him 21st in the rankings    
Jared Myrick has 14 steals and is tied for 2nd in Region XIV, with teammate Shane Fry (8) tied for 19th.
Aaron Wilkerson had eight saves to top Region XIV.