TEXARKANA, Texas -- The Freedom Bulldogs rallied from a three-run deficit to claim an 11-7 win over the Texarkana Bulldogs Wednesday night in an American Legion opener at George Dobson field in Spring Lake Park.
Freedom, made up of high-school players in rural northeast Texas put up four runs in the sixth and three more in the ninth to pull away from Texarkana.
In a non-league affair, both coaches emptied their benches, testing players at multiple positions. They sent a parade of pitchers – five apiece – to the mound. On the night, Texarkana pitchers issued 11 walks, and seven of those resulted in runs. Pitching by committee led to a constant shuffling of defenses. Each team made three errors and they were usually costly, allowing runs to score and keeping innings alive.
Texarkana broke out to an early 2-0 lead courtesy of several Freedom miscues. With one out, Nathan Wall smacked a solid single to left. He moved up second and third on wild pitches, to third on a wild pitch. He scored on another wild pitch.
In the meantime, Kim Choate of Hooks drew a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. Trenton Pemberton beat out a slow roller to short and when Freedom's Halen Miller, going late to first, threw the ball out of play, Choate scored.
Freedom tied it up in the top of the third. Carson Summerlin looped a liner into the right field corner for a triple. That scored Brendon Marshall, who had walked. Will Henson followed with a single to right to bring in Summerlin.
Texarkana reclaimed the lead with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Chris Collins, a rising junior from Hughes Springs, punched a single to center field, He beat out an on-target throw by catcher Brayden Wiley to steal second.
Another Hughes Springs player, Jacob Pearson, lined a single to center to bring in Collins. Kolby Lewis of Arkansas High followed with a single to plate Pearson to make it 4-2.
It was 5-2 after 5 innings. With the bases loaded, Trenton Pemberton, of Hughes Springs, hit a slow roller to the third baseman who had no play at the plate, allowing Nathan Wall to score.
Freedom took advantage of four walks to claim the lead in the top of the six. Kannon Dempsey drew the first pass and moved around the bases on a couple of wild pitches, A throwing error on the catcher allowed him to score.
After the Texarkana infield bobbled a grounder that looked like a sure double play, three more walks loaded the bases for Brayden Wiley, who cleared them with a two-out triple to the fence in center.
The visiting Bulldogs added to their lead in the top of the seventh on a triple from Kannon Dempsey to score Kyler Bowers and Will Henson.
Down 8-5, Texarkana clawed back, scoring a run in the seventh when Wall hit a single to left followed by a triple by Trapper Golden. The home Bulldogs got runners on the corners in the 8th but stranded them there.
Three more walks in the ninth loaded the bases for Will Henson, who crushed a ball to the wall for a three-RBI triple.
Down 11-6, Texarkana eked out one more run in the ninth when Trapper Golden got his second hit of the night to bring in Wall, who will be a senior next year at Arkansas High.
The Bulldogs will travel to Nacogdoches, Texas, this weekend for a tournament. They will return to Dobson Field next week for games with the Arkansas Razorback. The junior teams will play at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. The senior teams will face off for a nine-inning game at 7 p.m. Thursday.