It was in the same place between the same two opponents and same margins of victory from almost a year earlier.
The Gruver Greyhounds, though, made sure it was a totally different ending Wednesday.
Returning to Plainview High for their Class 2A Division II regional semifinal series against Stamford, the same team who eliminated them in the region finals last season, the Greyhounds turned the tables on the Bulldogs. Just like last season, both games were decided by one run.
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Unlike last year, they both went Gruver’s way.
The Greyhounds scored both wins in their final at-bat, winning game one 5-4, then scoring twice in the bottom of the seventh to win game two 8-7 and complete the series sweep. Gruver (19-1) will face Ropes (26-5) in the Region I-2A Division I championship with a best-of-three series beginning at noon, Thursday at the Bushland Baseball complex. Game two will follow game one, and game three is set for 2 p.m. Saturday, if necessary.
“This was a very exciting and fun series,” Gruver head coach Khris Kelp said. “It was two great games and our guys never quit, they overcome some self pain and responded. The four runs in first game were errors on are part, and then we gave up a lead in the second game, but these guys don’t quit.”
At the same field last season, Gruver suffered a pair of heartbreaking one-run losses to Stamford (19-9). This time, it was the Greyhounds inflicting the heartbreak.
Gruver held a 6-4 lead heading into the seventh inning of game two and was one out from a series sweep. However, Miles Follis singled and thanks to an error, two runs came across to tie the game 6-6. Follis eventually scored on an error to give Stamford a 7-6 lead.
The Greyhounds were one out away from needing a third game Thursday as Stamford’s Carlos Vega struck out Gruver’s first two hitters in the bottom of the seventh. Gruver’s Grady Satterfield and Brock Butler, though, kept the game alive with back-to-back singles.
The baserunners moved up on passed balls and came home with the winning runs on Merritt Cudd’s single to centerfield to end the game. It capped a big day at the plate for leadoff hitter Cudd, who was 3-for-4 and also scored three runs.
“I told Merritt to stay on top of the ball,” Kelp said. “He knows how to do that all too well and always does a great job of that. He doesn’t have to do a lot, he just had to get the ball in play. Merritt is always consistent and he did his job.”
Gruver’s Cohen Jones was 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles and drove in three runs.
The first game wasn’t quite as dramatic but just as successful for the Greyhounds. All of Stamford’s runs came in the bottom of the third against Gruver starter Jett Pittman, as Vega’s three-run triple gave the Bulldogs a 4-2 lead.
That was all Stamford could manage against Pittman, as he finished with a complete-game win.
Gruver tied it 4-4 in the top of the fifth. Cudd drove home Butler with a double, then scored on Pittman’s sacrifice fly to tie it.
Cudd was also responsible for the winning run in the seventh. He singled and went to third on Briggs Satterfield’s double before scoring on a wild pitch.