For six innings, the District 3-5A showdown between Amarillo High and Lubbock-Cooper at Sandie Field on Tuesday was the kind of game which would be anticipated with a district title on the line and the playoffs no more than 10 days down the road.
A rough seventh inning for Amarillo High, though, meant that when these two teams meet again in Lubbock on Friday that the district title will still be up for grabs.
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In a game which looked like it would come down to a final at-bat, Amarillo High’s trip to the plate in the bottom of the seventh was anticlimactic. That’s because the Sandies gave up seven runs to Cooper in the top of the seventh, handing Amarillo High an 11-3 loss which created a tie for the district lead going into the regular season finale in a rematch between the two teams at Cooper.
Prior to Cooper’s outburst in the seventh, the Pirates were clinging to a 4-3 lead after Amarillo High (20-9-1, 13-2 in district) got the tying run to second base in the top of the seventh. After that, though, things fell apart for the Sandies.
“We definitely feel like the score doesn’t tell everything about the game,” AHS coach Randon Johnson said. “It was a pitchers’ duel and a pretty clean game before that. It’s that old coach’s deal where you’ve got to play every out and you’ve got to play every inning, and we didn’t do that.”
Cooper (21-9, 13-2) scored three runs off Amarillo High reliever Tate Blackwell in the top of the sixth to go up 4-1. Blackwell relieved starter Clayton Norrell, who was his usual effective self for five innings, not giving up anything after a first inning run, as he scattered five hits and left six Cooper runners stranded, including those on second and third in the fifth.
However, Cooper starter Cruz Lopez was even more effective, as the Sandies didn’t get a runner past first in the first four innings. He walked Jayden Cedillo to led off the bottom of the fifth, and seeing an opportunity to break through with more speed on the bases, Johnson decided to removed Cedillo for pinch runner Creed Dye.
That move paid off, as Dye scored the game-tying run on an error. But that would force Norrell off the mound, as he had to move to first base to replace Cedillo and brought out Blackwell to relieve.
“At some point we had to make a change and see what we could do to spark us a little bit,” Johnson said. “We were just trying to create something offensively and some good things happened.”
In the sixth, Cooper’s Kaden Buske hit a two-run double off Blackwell as the Pirates went back up 4-1. The Sandies responded in the bottom of the inning as Austin Sluder singled and went to second on a wild pitch, then with two outs, scored on a single by pinch hitter Wyatt Purser to make it 4-2 and knock Lopez out of the game.
Sidearming right-hander Conner Robertson relieved, and back-to-back singles by Gabriel Ortiz and Goldyn Howell cut it to 4-3 and put runners on the corners. Robertston then struck out Norrell on three pitches to end the inning.
That gave the Pirates all the momentum they needed heading into the seventh. They sent 13 batters to the plate against three Amarillo High pitchers. Cooper had six hits in the inning, all singles.
That ensured that the teams would be tied heading into Friday’s game at Cooper with the winner taking the outright district title. Johnson expected it would come down to something like this resembling a playoff situation.
“Going up to a nine-team district with quality opponents we had to work for it and been pressed,” Johnson said. “Sometimes we’ve come back in tough situations and sometimes we haven’t. I feel like we’ve figured it out a little bit and we can roll into the playoffs knowing that.”