Sports

The Canton Eagles saw their 2016 season draw to a close last week, falling in back-to-back games to the Pittsburg Pirates in an Area round loss May 12-13.

Game one of the series featured plenty of offense, with a late flurry by Canton falling just short in a 12-7 loss to the Pirates.

Pittsburg got off to a fast start in the contest, scoring two runs in both the first and third innings to take a 4-1 lead. The Pirates broke through for five runs in the top of the fifth inning, pulling away for a 9-1 lead.

Canton began its march down the comeback trail in the bottom of the fifth, plating three runs to pull to within 9-4. Kyle Farrell started the Eagle rally with a one-out single, followed by a Hunter Moore RBI single to right. John Adams also came through with an RBI single, and Zach Brown capitalized on a Pittsburg fielding error by coming home for the final run of the inning.

District 14-4A teams representing Van Zandt County performed exceedingly well throughout the 2016 season and beyond, as Canton, Van and Wills Point all qualified to compete in the playoffs.

While overall district champion Brownsboro staked a claim to the majority of Superlative honors, both Canton and Wills Point made it one step further in the playoffs by also adding bi-district titles to their resumes.

Superlatives included:

-MVP: Toby Davis, Brownsboro

-Offensive MVP: Ryan Ratliff, Rains

-Defensive MVP: Braden Womack, Brownsboro

-Newcomer of the Year: Seth Wilson, Wills Point

-Pitcher of the Year: Jake Conner, Brownsboro

First Team All-District

-Pitcher: Hunter Moore, Canton; Robbie Davis, Van; Hosea Carroll, Wills Point

-Catcher: Caden Bennett, Wills Point

-Infield: Bret Hale, Van; Cade Shaw, Canton; Caleb Seale, Brownsboro; Jacoby Bogue

With the elimination of all District 14-4A teams from this year's softball playoffs, coaches released their list of Superlative and All-District teams for the 2016 season. Not surprisingly, Van and Canton, the first and second place finishers in the district respectively, managed to win or share in all or part of six out of seven Superlative honors.

Superlatives included:

-MVP: Bailey Daniels, Van

-Offensive POY: Brooke Arnold, Canton

-Defensive POY: Becca McGough, Brownsboro

-Newcomer of the Year: Kylie Floyd, Canton; Racheal Thomas, Van

-Pitcher of the Year: Jenna Stanley, Canton

-Catcher of the Year: Morgan Benge, Van

-Coach of the Year, Robert Klick, Van

First Team All-District

-Pitcher: Kirsten Anderson, Brownsboro

-Catcher: Gracie Chavez, Canton

This past weekend, on May 5th - 7th, the Canton Fury10U softball girls participated in a local tournament with teams from East Texas competing.  The Canton Fury girls defeated Alba Golden Ice and took home first place with an impressive 20 - 9 win in the final game.  

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The Canton Eagles became one of two District 14-4A teams to survive the gauntlet of bi-district round play last week, fighting their way past Kaufman in a best-of-three series to advance to Area round play this week.

Canton, the third seed coming out of its district, received a stellar pitching performance in game one May 6 to stake early control of the series with a 3-1 win.

Kaufman knotted things at 1-1 the following afternoon, moving Canton’s record to 15-9 overall with a 4-1 victory of their own.

The Eagles left little doubt about who would be advancing in game three of the series, dominating every facet of play in a 14-1 rout to pick up a bi-district round title.

With the Canton Eagles will now take on Pittsburg in a best of three series beginning tonight (May 12) in Tyler. Game one will begin at 4:30 p.m. Game two will begin at 7:30 p.m. May 13 and game three, if necessary, will be played at 3 p.m. May 14.

Van Zandt County’s fastest and strongest track and field athletes traveled to Texas A&M Commerce April 29-30, competing in the Class 4A Region II Track and Field Meet.

Canton, Van and Wills Point all qualified athletes to compete in Commerce, with the Eagle track team results including a first place finish overall in the pole vault, and the Vandal track team posting their top individual finish in the high jump.

Varsity boys results included:

-400: Bryce Wilkens, Canton, sixth

-1600: Jacob Carter, Van, 14th

-3200: Jacob Carter, Van, 11th

-Discus: Austin Yarber, Canton, ninth

-High Jump: Zanden Worley, Van, third; Chris Goodson, Canton, sixth

-Pole Vault: Colin Millsap, Canton, first

-Long Jump: Kendrick Jones, Van, ninth

-Triple Jump: Kendrick Jones, Van, eighth

Varsity girls results included:

-800: Juliana Bratcher, Canton, fourth

-1600: Juliana Bratcher, Canton, sixth

The third annual ‘Drive’ Out Hunger Food Drive Golf Tournament had a cold start, but those that sponsored and participated had warm hearts. All proceeds went to Manna, a non-profit volunteer food bank serving those in Van Zandt County. Nonperishables were part of the entry fee for the event and the boxes at the pro shop were filled to overflowing along with foods collected at Ol’ West Bean and Burger and Mill Creek Ranch & RV. Following the tournament those foods along with a check for $4,000 were presented to Manna’s director, Kathy Silver. Manna just broke ground for their new building in February and she stated that these funds would help provide more floor space to serve more of the residents in need.

Taking home first place in the first flight was repeat champion, Jared Niles and Stetson McMillan shooting a 59. Second place in the first flight was Terry Niles and Scott Boyd with a 64. Third place in the first flight was John Casper and Kirk Kohler at 68.

The Canton Eaglettes saw their excellent 2016 campaign come to an end in the bi-district round of the playoffs, coming up short in the final two games of a best-of-three series against Ferris.

Canton took early control in the series against Ferris April 28, getting a standout pitching performance from Jenna Stanley in a 6-0 shutout win. Stanley allowed just three hits while striking out 13 in seven innings of work.

Offensively, the Eaglettes got everything they needed in the home half of the first inning on two Ferris errors that allowed Kylie Floyd to score.

Another error in the third helped to make the score 2-0, and Sam Neal doubled home Jenna Stanley to push the lead to three runs.

Wild pitches and errors in the bottom of the fifth helped pave the way for three more Eaglette runs, capping the scoring at 6-0 in favor of Canton.

The Canton Eagle baseball team was kept on the sidelines this past week as Mother Nature played the role of spoiler by washing out what would have been a district closing game against the rival Wills Point Tigers April 29.

Even with the game cancelled, Canton finds itself in the playoffs once again with fellow District 14-4A qualifiers Brownsboro, Wills Point and Van.

Canton is now scheduled to tangle with the Kaufman Lions beginning May 6 in a best-of-three bi-district round playoff series. Game one will take place in Canton May 6 with first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m. Games two and three (if necessary) are scheduled to be played in Kaufman beginning at 1 p.m. May 7.

The Canton boys golf team finished a very successful season at the 4A State Golf Tournament at Onion Creek Country Club in Austin April 25-26.

Despite the flooding sustained over the past year, the golf course was in great shape and the boys played well. It was very windy during round two and we encountered some course management issues but overall the boysadapted so well.

"It is such an honor to be playing at the highest level of competition and we intend to make State a yearly trip," said Coach Paige Peace James.

They boys carded a 329 team total placing them in 8th out of 12 teams after day on. Patrick Malouf shot a very impressive 74 and was in fourth place after day one. Matthew Allen carded an 80, Logan Willeford an 81, Will Huddle 94 and Travis Perkins 98.

The 8th Place finish positioned the team in the middle grouping of tee times for day two.