Staff report

CROSBY — Thanks in no small part to one dramatic comeback in the UIL 5A area round, Port Neches-Groves marched all the way to the baseball state championship.

The Indians, with two outs, scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning to beat Manvel 4-3 in Crosby last May 13 and won five more rounds to clinch their first baseball title. Almost 10 months later, the two teams met again in the Crosby tournament, and once again the Indians beat the Mavericks by a run, 3-2, Thursday.

PNG (4-3-2) raced to a 3-0 lead in the third on a three-run Carson Roccaforte homer, proving enough to support Brandon Petix’s five-inning, four-hit performance on the mound. The senior allowed only a solo home run in the fourth.

Drake Varnado worked the final two innings and struck out two while allowing an unearned run on one hit to get the save.

Austin Bost, Cameron Stansbury and Roccaforte each had two hits for the Indians. Josh Hranicky, Blake Bost and Petix each had one hit.

PNG then equaled its number of ties from last season after finishing in a 2-2 deadlock with Cypress Falls. The Indians got a hit each from Kaleb Wuenschel, Zack Deckert, Holden Lane, Austin and Blake Bost and Varnado.

Both of Cy Falls’ runs were unearned. Indians starter Jamison Simmons pitched three innings of one-hit ball and walked four, Austin Schaper gave up three hits in 2 1/3 innings, and Roccaforte came on to throw a hitless 1 2/3 innings.

 

Langham Creek 7, Nederland 0

MONT BELVIEU — Case Babino and Landon Hiltz each batted 1 for 3, but Langham Creek handed Nederland (5-1-1) its first defeat of the season.

Also Thursday: Hull-Daisetta beat Sabine Pass 8-2, and Lufkin Hudson defeated Bridge City 3-2.

 

SOFTBALL

Nederland 2, Tarkington 1, 8 inn.

LIBERTY — Destini Trahan had two hits and drove in both of the Bulldogs’ runs in the eighth inning in a win over the Longhorns in the Liberty-Huffman tournament.

Trahan allowed three hits in the circle and struck out 17. Seventy-seven of her 109 pitches were strikes.

Hannah Goode and Lexi Eversole each had a hit for Nederland (8-3-2).

 

Nederland 9, Kelly 7

LIBERTY — Nederland lost a 5-0 lead in the third inning and was down 6-5 going into the bottom of the fourth, where those Bulldogs responded with three runs and held on to beat the Kelly Bulldogs in a time-limited Liberty-Huffman tournament game.

Lexi Eversole had three hits including a double and drove in three runs. Alyssa Collazo went 2 for 3 with a homer and drove in three runs; Brittany Taylor (2 for 3) tripled and batted in two runs, Harlee Brown had two hits, and Hannah Goode, Kristan Traxler, Halle Foster and Trahan each had a hit.