CC All-Stars win Dixie district title

By HEATHER HOLT

Special to the Register

The Cooke County 13-14 All-Star team pulled out a tremendous win Wednesday night against the Princeton Panthers in an 11-7 victory that propels them into the State Championship Tournament in Sulphur Springs on July 11.

Under a hot Texas sky and with temperatures nearing the century mark, Cooke County took to the field first in an uneventful first inning that left both teams scoreless. In the second inning, CC’s bats started swinging as bases were quickly loaded. Rightfielder Steven Flusche and shortstop Trevor Hess both hit doubles to drive runners home and CC would end the second inning with a comfortable 6-0 lead as pitcher Blayne Styles struck two batters out and the CC defense stopped a third.

In the third inning, Princeton scored a single run off a walk, but three strikeouts from Styles retired the side.

In the top of the fourth, CC added a run to the scoreboard as Hud Harrison crossed the plate off a double by catcher Andy Flusche. But a third out left Flusche stranded and Princeton made the most of their opportunity at bat. With the bases loaded Princeton’s Culton Speer stepped up to the plate and sent the second pitch out of the park for a grand slam home run that put the Panthers back into contention. After that hit CC would hold Princeton to preserve an 8-7 lead.

Not to be denied in the fourth, Harrison stepped to the plate for CC and sent the ball into the outfield for a triple that would drive in Flusche. Hess then steped up and brought Harrison in before Princeton put a stop to the hitting and took their turn at the plate. Princeton found no room to add to the score as Tanner Kuhn and the CC defense held them scoreless into the fifth where neither team found any weaknesses and both sides went three up and three down. The only hitting in the sixth would come from Kuhn who was left stranded at second.

CC added one more run in the seventh off a triple from Hess as Harrison scored the final run of the game. Princeton had one more opportunity to put runs on the board but their final batters in the order popped up flies that were caught by the outstanding defensive play of Cooke County.

The team is coached by Chris Styles, Kyle Kuhn, and Steve Kessler. The Cooke County All-Star players are Hud Harrison, Trevor Hess, Blayne Styles, Andy Flusche, Tanner Kuhn, Denzel Johnson, Chance Sikes, Stephen Marion, Austin Aldridge, Steven Flusche and Jacob Kessler.

As always, volunteers make a tremendous difference and the Boys Baseball of Cooke County would like to thank the following for their time and effort in helping to make the Dixie District 3 Tournament such a success: Steve, Jacob, Stephen, and Lisa Kessler; Brian, Eva, Tye, Mason, and Zachary Woody; Chris, Darla, Blayne and Zayne Styles; Megan and Reece Holt; Kyle, Tanner, and Denna Kuhn; Judy Coy; Matthew Muller; Phil Metzler; Brian Rains; Mark Meece; Kevin Day; Dell Ray Cox; Anthony Ellender; Malcom Royal; Ricardo Vargas; Nick Stockwell; Neal, Andy, Steven and Sean Flusche; Brandon, Lisa, Kaid and Kaleb Sizemore; Jeremy Myers; Wray Westbrook; Skye Bowles; Bob Happik; Grady Carr; Donnie and Justin Stradley; Ira “Pokey” Mitchell; Jan Mario;, Randy and Donna Sikes; Trey Hollar; and Theresa and Hud Harrison. A special thank you to Prism Electric, Grand Central and Taco Casa.