They knew where they were going and who they were about to face, but Friday afternoon the Amarillo High Sandies left a mark to confirm where they’d been.
The Sandies came home for their final regular season game at Sandie Field against Lubbock-Cooper knowing that they’d already clinched a playoff spot in District 3-5A. Amarillo High was guaranteed the district’s No. 1 seed in the Class 5A Division I bracket.
What was still on the line, though, was a share of the 3-5A title. The Sandies made sure they got that as well, beating Cooper 6-1 to share the district title with, appropriately enough, Cooper.
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Tuesday evening, the Sandies (28-4, 14-2 in district) traveled to Cooper (21-13-1, 14-2) and lost 6-2, giving the Pirates sole possession of the district lead for 72 hours. By the end of the day – and the regular season – they were forced to share it with the Sandies.
Even though AHS coach Randon Johnson knew his team would be playing Abilene Cooper in the 5A DI bidistrict round next week, he still felt the game carried significance.
“You got two things here,” Johnson said. “The district championship is important because you can go out there for a whole year and say this is what this group accomplished. The other part of it is this is a high pressure environment against a quality opponent and how do you respond and come back. I really challenged these guys to imagine this is a playoff series and you’re playing a game today to keep your season alive.”
For the last six innings in particular, the Sandies showed every much why their season is still alive and how it could go much further. They got the hitting they needed with runners on base, and sophomore right-hander Taegen Tate kept the Pirates largely at bay offensively.
The first inning, though, represented a missed opportunity for Amarillo High against Cooper right-hander Ryan Rodriguez. Despite getting three hits in the inning, the Sandies ran into an out and came up empty.
“There was a little nervousness out here to start off with,” Johnson said. “I think some guys had butterflies in their stomach. Getting some quality hits early on helped out.”
It was shaping up as a pitchers’ duel between Tate and Rodriguez in the bottom of the second. Rodriguez retired the first two Amarillo High hitters to start the second, but the bottom of the lineup came through and the Sandies took control.
Dillon Grider singled to right and Oliver Parsons walked before Rodriguez hit leadoff hitter Jimmy Escajeda on the first pitch to load the bases, bringing up senior Talon Jones. On a full count, Jones blasted a Rodriguez pitch to deep right-center for a double, clearing the bases and giving the Sandies a 3-0 lead, which turned out to be enough.
“I was just trying to get a base hit with two strikes and shorten it up,” Jones said. “Any time Taegen’s throwing we only need a couple of runs and we trust him to do his thing. It feels awesome, especially to come back home and win after losing to that team.”
For three innings, Tate didn’t allow a runner to get past first base. He appeared mortal in the top of the fourth, though, as Cooper’s first three hitters all had hits and Bently Seeberger’s RBI double cut Amarillo High’s lead to 5-1.
That was it as far as Cooper’s scoring against Tate, though. He scattered seven hits while striking out nine and walking only one in a complete-game victory.
“I’m very happy I came out here and did what we worked for all season,” Tate said. “Feeling confident was my main thing today. My slider and fastball were on more than most the other games. There was obviously a big motivation for this because if we don’t win this game, we’re not district champions.”
The only big scare late came in the top of the sixth. Tate gave up his only walk of the game and the Pirates loaded the bases with two outs, bringing up Jason Calvillo to the plate as the tying run, but Tate struck him out to end the inning.
Appropriately enough, Tate ended the game with a 1-2-3 seventh, striking out Jax Lane to end it. Tate needed 13 pitches to retire Lane during an at-bat in the third inning, and by Lane’s final at-bat, he’d reached the 110-pitch limit and was facing his last batter no matter what.
“My goal today was to pitch the whole game and that’s what I got,” Tate said. “That was perfect at the end and it couldn’t have gone better.”
Tate is already in his second full varsity season and has more experience on the mound than a lot of pitchers who have already graduated. That will make him that much more valuable in the postseason.
“I know if somebody came out here to see him as a sophomore they might be surprised to see what he did today for us, but that’s exactly what we’ve seen from him and what we expect,” said Johnson of Tate. “When he does that we’re really hard to beat. A lot of it is knowing your places and (pitching) coach (Kameron) Mathis has been staying with him and it was a nice warm day without a lot of high stress innings.”
Escajeda, Parsons, and Austin Sluder all had two hits for the Sandies, and Parsons scored three runs.
Johnson said that next week’s series with Abilene Cooper will be played at, ironically. Lubbock-Cooper. He’s hoping it will be a three-game series over Thursday and Friday.
In 3-5A, Lubbock Monterey will be the No. 2 seed in the Division I bracket. Cooper will be the No. 1 seed in Division II and Lubbock Coronado the No. 2 seed.