Sports and Outdoors

 Lake Info

Normal Lake Level is 322.00 feet above Mean Sea Level.
Current level for Cedar Creek Lake is: 322.19
Water Temperature:
na degrees - top
63 degrees - bottom

Kemp blanks error-prone Panthers, 7-0
Monitor Photo/Mary Landrie
Kemp Yellowjacket Cody Kuehn (5) reaches first base safely when Mabank first baseman Kolton Browning (right) gets pulled off by a wide throw, one of eight errors the hosting Panthers committed in Kemp’s 7-0 victory Friday.

Monitor Staff Reports
MABANK–The combination of Nick Sallings’ no-hitter and eight errors proved fatal for the hosting Mabank Panthers Friday, as the Kemp Yellowjackets took a key first-round win, 7-0.
Kemp’s District 13-3A baseball victory was a strong comeback after a very disappointing loss at Ferris, and means the Panthers will need to post a very strong second round to secure a playoff berth.
The Panthers were scheduled to open second-round play Tuesday at Kaufman, while the ’Jackets hosted the Eustace Bulldogs Tuesday in their second-round opener.
Friday, April 13, the ’Jackets are scheduled to visit Crandall for a key 6:30 p.m. contest, while Mabank will host Eustace at that same time.
Both teams are idle Tuesday, April 17, and resume district play Friday, April 20, with Mabank visiting Ferris for a 6:30 p.m. game, and Kemp hosting Kaufman in a 4:30 p.m. contest.
At Mabank Friday, the ’Jackets did most of their damage in the second and third innings, scoring six of their seven runs off Panther starter David Taylor.
Sallings went the distance in recording his no-hitter, striking out 14 Panthers and issuing only two walks.
Taylor took the loss, allowing six runs (three earned) on three hits, issuing two walks and recording no strikeouts in three innings of work.
Kolton Browning, coming on in relief, allowed just one run (not earned) and racked up eight strikeouts while issuing two walks.
The ’Jackets threatened immediately in the top of the first, thanks to two Panther errors, but left two runners stranded on a ground out by Dalton Fugitt.
Sallings allowed his first baserunner early, as he hit Panther leadoff batter Chanz Sullivan, but then struck out Mikey Shelton, Browning and Mark Groom swinging to strand Sullivan.
Throwing errors really hurt the Panthers in the second inning as Josh Carr (who singled) and Cody Kuehn both scored as a result of two errors.
Sallings allowed another baserunner in the second when he hit Ryan Smith, but he was forced out at second when Chris Trejo hit into a fielder’s choice.
Kemp began getting to Taylor for hits in the third inning, but three Panther errors resulted in four ’Jacket runs.
Sallings stroked an RBI double, scoring Matt Carr (who had walked), and then took third and home on Panther errors.
Fugitt reached base on a dropped third strike, advanced to second on a passed ball and took third on an error, before Kuehn brought him in on a fielder’s choice.
Mikie Scruggs, who had reached on an error, was brought home on Tim Fuller’s single, but the ’Jackets left the bases loaded on a ground out and fly out.
Neither team generated any offense in the fourth and fifth innings, as both Sallings and Browning proved untouchable.
The ’Jackets scored their last run in the top of the sixth, when Browning issued back-to-back walks to catcher Bret Kennedy and Leif Skierski.
Kennedy stole third base and advanced home on an error. Both Skierski and Fugitt (who reached base on that same error) were stranded when Scruggs lined out.
The Panthers finally put a threat together in the bottom of the sixth when Sullivan walked, advanced to second and took third on a wild pitch, and Browning also walked, advancing to second on the wild pitch.
Both Sullivan and Browning were stranded when Sallings struck out Groom.
Both teams went 1-2-3 in the seventh inning to end the contest.

After-church check pays off

Monitor Photo/Pearl Cantrell
Eustace High School freshman Ross Winkler hefts a 40-pound catfish he caught on a trotline Sunday.

By Pearl Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
PAYNE SPRINGS–While other children were hunting Easter eggs or eating an Easter lunch, a Eustace High School freshman was checking his trot line, hoping to have snagged something.
Snagged something he did – something so big, it nearly pulled him out of his boat.
“My heart was pumping so fast and so hard, I thought it would leap out of my chest,” 15-year-old Ross Winkler told The Monitor.
He and his family had just come home from Sunday church services.
“I thought that maybe I’ll have some good luck now that I’ve been to church,” the Cherokee Shores resident admitted. “I hadn’t been in a while.”
Lucky or blessed, Winkler managed to pull into his small boat a 40-pound catfish.
The fish put up quite a fight.
Winkler said he’d caught fish he thought were that big before, but they had always managed to get away.
“This one didn’t get away,” he said.
Apparently, the whopper bit down on one of the bare silver hooks on the trotline.
It may have reflected the sunlight just as a minnow would have, step-dad Dan Lewis speculated.
Lewis said his stepson had been fishing since he was five years old.
“He eats and breathes fishing,” Lewis said, adding he also enjoys hunting and dirt biking.
Was the catch a message from God, you think?
“I think he wants me to know I could be a good fisherman,” Winkler said.
“Or it could mean he’d like you to go to church more often?” Lewis interjected.
The last big fish Winkler landed was a carp weighing 26 pounds, he recalled.
Beth Winkler, Ross’s mom, planned a mighty fish fry featuring the monster catfish Monday night.
“There’s going to be some good eating tonight,” Lewis said.

Mabank eases by Eustace
Monitor Photo/Mary Landrie
Mabank’s Jordan Mounts (13) slides in safely to second base as the cutoff throw gets away from Eustace Lady Bulldog Shelby Knight during Mabank’s 9-3 District 13-3A softball win over the visiting Eustace girls Friday.

Monitor Staff Reports
MABANK–An outstanding pitching performance by freshman Brandie Lander helped the Mabank Lady Panthers ease past the visiting Eustace Lady Bulldogs 9-3 Friday.
The win improved Mabank to 4-3 in District 13-3A softball play behind Ferris and Crandall, and back into the playoff race with three games to play, while the Lady Bulldogs continued to struggle in loop action.
Both Eustace and Mabank were scheduled for key district matchups Tuesday, as the Lady Bulldogs hosted Ferris and Mabank traveled to Crandall.
Friday, April 13, Eustace will host Kaufman in a 5 p.m. contest, while Mabank will host Kemp in a game scheduled for 7 p.m., but may start earlier.
Both teams are idle Tuesday, April 17. Both Eustace and Mabank will wind up the regular season Friday, April 20, as Mabank hosts Ferris and Eustace travels to Kemp.
Lander entered the contest in the first inning with the bases loaded, and managed to get the Lady Panthers out of the jam without giving up a run.
She went on to notch 15 strikeouts against the Lady Bulldogs.
Erin Mason led the Lady Panthers at the plate with three hits, while Krista Jennings and Lauren Norwood each had two hits.
Katie Cross and Karlyn Bellows each had long doubles for the Lady Panthers.

First Courtney Howard Foundation basketball tournament a huge success
Courtesy Photo
First place team members include (not in order) Chad King, Leonard Whiteley, B.J. Young, Steve McKinney, Jacarri Culberson, Sherry Penix, Katie Cross and Ashley Darvy. Not pictured is Courtney Looney.

















Courtesy Photo
Second place team members include (not in order) Jeff Gaddis, Chance Johnson, Matt Winkelvoss, Tommy Wallis, Kenneth Givens, Chris Johnson, Jeff Norman, Tyson Johnson, Monica Gaddis, Kathy Norman, Susan Winkelvoss and Amy Pack.










Courtesy Photo
Third place team members include (not in order) Brett Russell, Jarred Batson, Meghan Hyde, Steven James, Kristen Russell, Julee Waller, Heather Embry, Blaire Hyde, Heath Browing and Mac Wintin.

By Marci Groom
Special to The Monitor
MABANK–The inaugural Courtney Howard Foundation Basketball Tournament March 22-24 drew 12 teams to the Mabank High School gym.
We had a great turnout for our first year. We hope we can continue to put on this tournament, and with the turnout and support we received this year, we’re already looking forward to next year.
We had some great, competitive games in the double-elimination tournament, and other than sore muscles and bruised egos, I believe everyone had a great time.
From 16- to 60-year-olds, a team full of coaches, a game with three overtimes, and a down-to-the-last-shot championship game, you couldn’t ask for more entertainment.
I hope that when everyone looks back and thinks about the tournament they will smile and remember how much fun it was.
Remember the reason we had the tournament.
I think only one thing would have made the tournament better would have been if Courtney would have been there herself, but I know she was looking down on us and laughing every time there was an air ball or we argued with the referee or dove on the ground for a loose ball, because even though it was for fun, we were competitive and Courtney wouldn’t have had it any other way.
I would like to thank everyone for coming out and supporting the Courtney Howard Foundation and providing local seniors with scholarships and keeping Court’s memory in our hearts always.
Come join us Wednesday, April 16, at the Cedar Creek Country Club for the second annual CHF Golf Tournament.
We would like to make a special thanks to the businesses in the area that donated to the tournament and helped to make it possible – Brookshire’s in Seven Points, Sonic in Gun Barrel City and Seven Points and Wings Over Seven Points.
Also, Mabank and Gun Barrel City Dairy Queens, First State Bank of Mabank, Family Dollar Store in Gun Barrel City, Wal-Mart, Sac-A-Burger, Burger King and Whataburger in Gun Barrel City.
The T-shirts were sponsored in part by 2 Hot Chics in Canton.
We thank Mabank ISD and Drs. Russel Marshall and Tommy Wallis for allowing the use of the MHS facility, and the MISD staff for all their help.
Thanks also to the referees and the concession stand operators – Sherry Terry, Paula Heddin, Molly Groom and Donna Lovell.



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