VALLEY MILLS – Thrall’s Tigers (3-3) traveled north to Valley Mills to take part in the Eagles Invitational tournament over the weekend. Thrall posted a pair of wins in the event against stiff competition.
The Tigers split their games Thursday. In their opener, the Axtell Longhorns scored five runs in the top of the fifth inning to rally past the Tigers 8-6. Thrall got on the board with a run in the first, but Axtell took a 2-1 lead in the top half of the second, before the Tigers knotted the game up at two in the bottom half of that inning.
Thrall regained the lead with a pair of runs in the third, and after the Longhorns trimmed the lead to 4-3 in the top of the fourth, the Tigers added two more runs. Axtell’s bats woke up in the fifth with the Longhorns picking up five hits and taking advantage of a pair of walks and a Tiger error to score five. Thrall went down quietly in the bottom of the fifth to end the game.
In the second game, Thrall defeated San Saba 10-4.
On Friday, the Tigers scored 12 runs in the top of the first and rolled over the Goldthwaite Eagles 19-1. Asa Gibbs and Jack Watson each had a pair of hits for the Tigers, and Watson and Tyler Bonkowski each drove in three runs in the win. Bonkowski and Carson Ball teamed up to hold the Eagles to a single hit.
In their tournament finale, the Tigers dropped an 8-7 decision to the Wortham Bulldogs. Wortham scored a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to get the win. The Tigers fell behind 3-1 after the first inning, but exploding for six runs in the top of the second. Wortham trimmed the lead to 7-5 in the bottom half of the inning.
Maverick McAllister and Hayden Heselmeyer each had two hits. McAllister accounted for three runs as well for the Tigers.
The Bulldogs tied the game at seven in the bottom of the fourth inning with a pair of runs, and scored the game winner in the eighth after leading off the inning with a pair of singles and a double.
Thrall began District 27-2A play on Tuesday night, traveling down highway 79 to take on the Milano Eagles.
