District 4-4A
Wolves destroy Eagles in run-rule win
It’s safe to say that in the young history of the West Plains baseball program that the Wolves have never scored a bigger win than they got Friday afternoon.
In their second clash of the season with fellow Canyon ISD rival Canyon, West Plains got a historic victory in the most convincing fashion possible. The No. 21 Wolves jumped on No. 17 Canyon for nine runs in the first inning and added two more in the third to secure the 10-run mercy rule margin and make a huge statement with an 11-0 win in five innings.
Not only did West Plains (19-5, 6-2 in district) score its first ever baseball win over a CISD school, but it meant more than just pride. The Wolves are now tied with Canyon (17-5-1, 6-2) for second place in the district behind fellow CISD school Randall in first place.
West Plains was in control from the start. The Wolves got on the board with one out in the bottom of the first on Bryton Bertrand’s three-run home run to right field for a 3-0 lead.
Bertrand’s bomb was the beginning of bad times for Canyon.
It was the first of eight straight hits by the Wolves, and after one time through the lineup, they’d knocked out Canyon starter Colt Cruth.
Kaden Dorman’s two-run single and Ethan Bentley’s two-run double off reliever Zabian Urteaga which concluded the scoring in the inning were the other big blows by West Plains. By the end of the inning, the Wolves led 9-0.
With two outs in the third, Garrett Hamilton’s two-run double to right center gave West Plains an 11-0 lead, and the outcome seemed like a formality.
Bentley was sharp in the mound in going five innings for the shutout. He gave up five singles and left two Canyon runners stranded on base in both the first and fourth innings, finishing with nine strikeouts and no walks.
Randall blanks Dumas, stays perfect in district
West Plains and Canyon could do no better than play for second place since No. 14 Randall continued to stand firmly atop the district, as the Raiders beat Dumas at home 8-0 to maintain a two-game lead over their CISD rivals.
Randall (14-9, 8-0) got all the runs it needed with two in the bottom of the first. The Raiders put the game away with four runs in the third.
Kaison Benton drove in two runs for Randall, who took advantage of five errors by Dumas (6-16, 2-6).
Randall starter Brae Silva pitched four innings and gave up one hit for the win. Derik Arenas and Noah Cuellar combined to pitch three scoreless innings in relief.
Hereford was able to gain a win over Pampa 8-5 and Perryton knocked off Borger 10-1 in the other 4-4A games.
District 3-5A
Amarillo High run-rules Palo Duro
Amarillo High stayed perfect atop the district by completing a season sweep of Palo Duro, scoring a 12-2 five-inning run-rule win at Sandie Field.
Will Flaming had a big day at the plate for the Sandies (18-8,8-0), falling a double short of hitting for the cycle. Flaming hit an inside-the-park homer in the first inning and finished 4-for-4 with 3 RBIs.
Winning pitcher Clayton Norrell drove in two runs for Amarillo High and Colton Flores and Garrett Robertson had two hits each. Palo Duro was still looking for its first district win after falling to 3-19 and 0-6.
Caprock gets big win over Tascosa
District 1-3A
Bushland crushes Dimmitt
Bushland continued to reign supreme atop the district, as the Falcons rolled to another run-rule victory, scoring 13 runs in the top of the third to spark a 21-4 win over Dimmitt in five innings.
Cannon Melban had a big game at the plate for Bushland (17-2-1, 4-0), hitting two homers and driving in four runs. Max Rodriguez and Breken Adams also both had two hits and four RBIs.
All told, Bushland had five players with two hits against Dimmitt (11-6, 2-2). Jaxon Fetsch, Colton Strickland and Noah Krause all drove in two runs for the Falcons.
River Road picks up first district win
The River Road Wildcats finally got in the district win column by beating Dalhart 11-5 at home.
River Road (8-7, 1-3) took the lead for good by scoring four runs in the bottom of the third to take a 6-3 lead. Manuel Velarde drove in three runs for the Wildcats while Tagan McLean and Elisha Urias drove in two. Zantiago Marrufo had two hits.
Dalhart fell to 5-4 and 2-2.
In the other district contest, Tulia beat Friona 13-3 on Saturday.
District 1-2A
Gruver and Sunray battled between two of the top teams in District 1-2A despite gusty and nasty wind conditions on Saturday in Sunray.
The Greyhounds were able to get the upper hand on the Bobcats with a clutch 6-5 win in eight innings.
The eventual game-winning run came for Gruver in the top of the eighth when Briggs Satterfield was able to score on a pass ball from pitcher Azriel Vargas.
Stephen Cowan was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Brock Butler worked 2.1 of scoreless relief to get the win.
Gruver is now 10-4 overall and 5-1 in District 1-2A. Sunray falls to 10-4 and 6-1 in district.
In the other district game, West Texas High took down Boys Ranch 12-2.
District 2-1A
Most of the district had the weekend off but there were still a couple of games played on Friday and Saturday.
The Claude Mustangs beat Nazareth 11-2 on Friday in a matchup of very good Class 1A teams that will enter the playoffs. Claude is now 9-4-1 overall and 2-1 in district.
Nazareth bounced back on Saturday to beat Shamrock 24-5.
The Swifts are 6-3 overall and 2-1 in the district.