Nazareth and Hamlin decided to have an old fashion wild west shootout Saturday playing two games that totaled eight hours and saw a combined 50 runs during the Region I-1A championship in Lamesa.
When the dust settled and high noon passed, Hamlin had outlasted Nazareth in the best-of-three series thanks to an explosive offensive performance in the late moments of the decisive final contest.
The rest of this story is only for subscribers.
The Pied Pipers had set the tone getting a 19-4 blowout win to open things up Thursday. The Swifts battled back hanging on for a 17-14 victory in Saturday’s opener only to see Hamlin (20-4) explode late in the rubber match with nine runs in the final two innings to pull away for a 14-5 victory and punch a ticket to the UIL Class 1A state semifinals against Gordon (22-5).
“It wasn’t the type of series I expected,” Nazareth head coach Tyler Goodwin said. “There were so many runs and I was thinking this was going to be a series built around pitching. We didn’t play like ourselves in the first game and the guys knew that. We played a lot better Saturday, but it just didn’t end how we wanted it to.”
Even in defeat and disappointed, Goodwin is more than thrilled with his Nazareth team that finished an incredible year at 21-5 and were playing in the regional championship for the fifth time in six years.
“I’m proud of this team and the way they carried on the Nazareth tradition,” Goodwin said. “It is hard to explain it to them after a loss, but they play every game at a level that most teams don’t, and they love to do it. These guys never quit and fight all the time. That makes it worth coaching even on the losing end.”
Hamlin jumped all over the Swifts in Thursday’s opener and Nazareth never recovered. With their backs against the wall, Nazareth had every chance to fold but instead came out firing to open up Saturday building a 12-0 lead through the first four innings. The Swifts jumped out 4-0 in the first highlighted by a Zane Schulte RBI single.
In the third inning, the offensive onslaught carried on with two-run single by Reid Backus putting Nazareth up 11-0. The Pied Pipers closed the gap in a hurry. Hamlin quickly made it 12-5 after four and put a scare into the Swifts with four runs in the fifth to cut the deficit at 12-9.
However, Nazareth plated five runs in the final two innings forcing a third game. In the win, Backus was 2-for-5 with five RBIs. Schulte added three RBIs on a pair of hits.
Heading into the decisive Game 3, both teams opened the game up hot scoring four runs in the first inning. The game stayed tied, 5-5, into the top of the sixth when a lightning delay caused a stoppage of over an hour. When play resumed, it didn’t go in Nazareth’s favor. Hamlin broke open the tie with a seven-run sixth inning going up 12-5 and then added two more runs in the top of the seventh to pull away for the win.
Rhett Ethridge led the offensive effort for the Swifts in the final game with two RBIs.