CLASS 4A
Division I

The West Plains Wolves cut it close twice, but the end result was the same both times, and they’ve now gone further than any other team in the school’s brief history.

West Plains won a wild one against Springtown on Friday at the Midland Greenwood Baseball Complex, surviving a 12-10 slugfest to complete a sweep in the UIL Class 4A Division I region semifinal. Coupled with a 5-4 victory in Thursday’s game one, the Wolves won the series 2-0.

The sweep sets up a rematch for West Plains (29-7) in next week’s region finals. There, the Wolves will get a rematch with Mineral Wells, the same team who eliminated them last season in a one-game playoff in the regional semifinals.

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West Plains will square off with Mineral Wells in a best-of-three series at Lubbock Cooper. The first game is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m., with game two slated for Saturday at 1 p.m., and a third game if necessary scheduled for 30 minutes later.

West Plains jumped out to a big early lead in the first game, scoring three in the top of the fifth and two in the top of the fourth for a 5-0 lead. In the fifth, Urijah Barrera had an RBI triple and scored on a single by Reid Macon, which proved to be just enough.

Springtown (23-10-2) scored three unearned runs off West Plains starter Jesse Flores to cut the lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth. Ethan Griffin relieved Flores in the seventh and with two outs gave up an RBI double to Layton Murrell to cut it to 5-4, but he struck out Isaac Gonzalez to earn the save,

Game two was quite the opposite, as the Porcupines jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the top of the third. However, West Plains scored four in the bottom of the inning to tie it, sparked by a leadoff inside the park home run by Noah Vasquez.

Springtown went back up 7-5 with two runs in the top of the fourth, but the Wolves roared back with five runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for good. They drew three consecutive bases loaded walks to take a 10-7 lead.

West Plains survived five pitchers giving up 17 hits to the Porcupines.

Hereford swept by Mineral Wells

Hereford couldn’t make it an all-District 4-4A region final, as the Whitefaces got pounded in a pair of games against Mineral Wells, losing 19-11 on Thursday and 14-4 on Friday at Clyde.

The tone was set in the first inning of the first game, as Mineral Wells scored six runs in the top of the third and Hereford (21-15) answered with five in the bottom of the inning. Hereford led 10-9 after four innings, but Mineral Wells (22-13-2) scored six in the top of the fifth to take control of the game, and ultimately the series.

Leadoff hitter Kalub Ramirez had two hits and drove in three runs for Hereford in the first game, Diego Ortiz and Brix Machen drove in two runs each and Chris Flores had three hits. Newt Schroeder drove in seven runs for Mineral Wells.

The second game was competitive until the bottom of the fourth, when MIneral Wells scored six runs to invoke the 10-run mercy rule.

Division II

Canyon loses twice to Brock on second day to drop series

The Canyon Eagles began their series like it would be an epic thriller, but ended it with less drama, an ultimately, less success.

Canyon had to grind out a 5-4 win in the first game against Brock on Thursday at Odessa College. Friday, though, belonged entirely to Brock, as it ended Canyon’s season with 7-2 and 13-2 victories.

The two losses finished Canyon’s season at 27-9-1.

Canyon broke a 2-2 tie in the first game with two runs in the top of the sixth to take the lead for good. Winning pitcher Bayler Schilling gave Canyon the lead with an RBI double, then scored on Carson Allen’s single for a 4-2 lead.

Keegan McCulloch picked up the save in dramatic fashion, getting Cade Vidal to ground out with the bases loaded to end it.

In the second game, Brock (28-5) showed a sense of urgency, scoring three runs in the top of the first and took a 6-0 lead. Canyon scored a run each in the sixth and seventh but it wasn’t nearly enough.

The decisive game wasn’t nearly as competitive, as Brock took a 4-0 lead in the top of the second and led 9-2 after four. Brock broke it open with four in the top of the fifth to eventually invoke the run rule.

Class 5A
Division I

Amarillo High swept by Aledo

Amarillo High’s bats never got going against Aledo, as the Sandies lost 8-1 on Thursday and 7-2 on Friday and saw their season come to an end.

The Sandies (31-6) took their only lead of the season very early, as Xander Plowman’s sacrifice fly scored Sergio Valencia in the top of the first for a 1-0 lead. That was the extent of Amarillo High’s offense for the day, though.

Aledo (35-3) scored three runs off Amarillo High starter Taegen Tate in the top of the fourth and took the lead for good. and the Bearcats never trailed the rest of the series.

That  fourth inning began a string of 15 unanswered runs over two games for Aledo. The Bearcats scored four in the bottom of the first and three in the second to take a 7-0 lead in the second game. The Sandies scored two in the fifth, but it was far too little far too late.

Class 3A
Division I

Bushland bats fall short against Iowa Park

Bushland couldn’t get into gear offensively against Iowa Park at Lubbock-Cooper, scoring a single run in each game, falling 5-1 on Thursday and 2-1 on Friday to see the season end.

Only once did Bushland (25-9) ever lead and that didn’t even last a half-inning. In the top of the second of game two, the Falcons took a 1-0 lead when Bryson Jimenez drove home Hunter Kissane with a double.

That was wiped out in the bottom of the second when Colton Stewart homered off Bushland starter Wade McConnell to start the inning. Stewart also singled off McConnell in the bottom of the sixth to drive home a run and give Iowa Park (31-4) a 2-1 lead, and A.J. Ramirez retired the Falcons in order in the seventh to preserve it.

McConnell gave up only three hits in a hard-luck loss.

In the first game, the Hawks scored two in the first and two in the fourth off Bushland starter Lincoln Krause for all the offense they needed. Krause struck out 10 in a losing effort.

Class 2A
Division I

New Deal gets past Cisco behind strong pitching performances

After falling in Wednesday’s opener, the New Deal Lions were able to roar back with a pair of hard fought wins to down Cisco in the Class 2A Division I regional semifinals Saturday at the Ira Baseball Complex.

The Loboes took game one 3-0, only to see the Lions even the series with a 7-4 victory and then a series clinching 1-0 win.

New Deal (27-5) has now advanced to the Region I-2A Division I championship and will play New Home (26-7) at a time and place to be determined.

In the third and decisive contest, the Lions scratched across that lone run in the bottom of the first on a Lane Proctor single that scored Jackson Atterbury.

The New Deal pitching staff was able to make that slim margin hold up. The combination of Tristan Bigham, Ray Alonzo, and Proctor combined for seven shutout innings. Bigham earned the win, tossing four shutout innings, allowing two hits with two strikeouts. Alonzo threw one scoreless innings, and Proctor nailed down the save with two scoreless innings.

Class 1A

Nazareth falls to O’Donnell

It was a frustrating end to the season for Nazareth, as the Swifts fell in a two-game sweep to O’Donnell during the Class 1A regional semifinals Friday and Saturday at the Lubbock-Cooper Baseball Complex.

The Eagles knocked off the Swifts in the series opener for a wild 13-12 victory, then closed out the series Saturday getting a 9-6 win.

Nazareth was unable to hang on to an 8-4 lead in Friday’s game one. O’Donnell rallied back scoring nine runs over the fifth and sixth innings to get the thrilling win. On Saturday, the Eagles opened up with a six-run first inning which set the tone. Nazareth did cut the deficit at 6-4, but never could get any closer.

Despite the loss, Tripp Ethridge drove in four RBIs over both games for the Swifts. Nazareth ends the season at 10-7.