By Kevin Lonnquist
NTX Varsity Sports Columnist
When the winter sports overlap the spring sports, so many developing stories can become lost in all the traffic.
One of those is the high school baseball season. Starting in late February, the season uses April to turn toward its finish line. Yes, the season is that close. Three weeks from Friday, the regular season ends. The postseason starts the following week.
However, this space can catch you up about what is happening around the NTX Varsity Sports Coverage area.
Note: All records were before Thursday’s action. Plus, there may not be an equal number of district games between some teams as teams enjoy a bye at some point of that part of the season.
Can Aledo repeat as State Champions?
Let’s start with the 2025 Class 5A Division I state champion Bearcats. They went into Thursday’s District 5-5A game with Keller Fossil Ridge at 20-2 and 5-0 in the district.
They have a team batting average of .359, an on-base percentage of .482 and a team earned-run average of 1.59. Those are dominating numbers. And that’s why they are on an eight-game winning streak.
This team has also beaten its share of Class 6A powers in Keller and Flower Mound. Those are teams that traditionally make deep playoff runs in that classification. In fact, that’s Keller only loss.
Both the lineup and pitching staff are deep enough to return to Round Rock in early June. Just know that a couple of bad days can ruin a season.
Paradise sends message
From the beginning of the season, it seemed that the District 10-3A race was about 2025 3A Division II state semifinalist Boyd leading the way and the rest of the district following from a distance.
When the week of March 23 began, the Yellow Jackets were undefeated and allowed only 26 runs. Then the Battle of Highway 114 with Paradise began. Everything then flipped.
Head coach Jeremy Fatheree’s Panthers not only swept this series, they dominated it, 7-1 and 10-0. Now, Paradise has control of the district race. It enjoys a two-game lead over Boyd. Paradise is 17-3 and 5-0 in 10-3A. Boyd is 20-2 and 5-2.
There are designs for Paradise to exceed the regional semifinalist season it put together in 2025.
Watching District 7-4A
Springtown baseball is enjoying a marvelous season at 15-3-2 and 7-0 in the district. But Decatur is sitting in the rear-view mirror. The Eagles are 13-6-1 and 5-0.
These two appear to be the class of the district. We likely won’t know who really is in charge until these two face each other in their district series, which is the final week of the season, April 21 at Decatur and April 24 in Springtown.
The interesting thing is that Springtown started out quickly and has not looked back. However, here’s the oddity about their schedule. Pojo’s two ties – that can happen in high school baseball because of time limits in tournaments or coaches run out of pitching and agree to call the game – are against Mineral Wells.
With Decatur, the Eagles typically take their lumps with a demanding non-district tournament schedule. The overall record may not look dazzling. However, they emerge from it for the better when they reach this point of the season.
Chaos in District 15-5A
When Midlothian Heritage swept Corsicana last week, it seemed that the Jaguars made the claim they were the best team in the district.
Then, this week started to play out. After they lost the opener of their series to Crandall, it opened the door for the Tigers to climb back into the top spot. They did. So did Ennis and Red Oak.
Before Thursday’s action, Corsicana (20-3-1), Heritage, Ennis and Red Oak were all tied for first place at 5-2. Well, the district can only send four teams to the playoffs.
The other compelling element of this race is that there is separation. Crandall, Terrell and Kaufman are not contenders to this point. The only team that can compete for a playoff spot is Midlothian. The Panthers trail the other four by one game at 4-3.
Briefly: Mildred (17-3, 5-1 20-2A) is destined to make the playoffs. The only thing to monitor is if the Eagles can climb over heavy hitter Frankston for the district title. The Indians (18-3, 8-0) are the favorites….because Weatherford (16-8, 4-1) split a key District 3-6A series with Mansfield Legacy, the Roos have a chance to win that district championship….there’s a pretty good chance Granbury (14-7-2, 6-0) could remain undefeated in the 5-5A race until it meets up with Aledo April 14 and April 17. Last year, the Pirates were in the same position as the Bearcats going into that series. Granbury was swept in dominating fashion. Should this opportunity present itself again, it will be interesting to see what this program learned from 2025 and what it can do with this second chance.
