For nine innings, left-handers Carson Haffner of Randall and Bryton Bertrand of West Plains matched each other zero for zero, with each occasionally grudgingly giving up a baserunner.
That made it no real big surprise, then, that it was decided in the top of the 10th, when Randall scored two unearned runs without benefit of a hit for a 2-0 victory in a crucial District 4-4A game.
The game is definitely a candidate for regular season game of the year in the Texas Panhandle and it said a lot about both Canyon ISD teams.
No. 10 Randall (15-9, 9-0 in district) maintained a two-game lead atop the district and hasn’t lost a district game in two seasons, giving an indication of the mojo which seems to follow the Raiders.
No. 16 West Plains (19-6, 6-3) hardly looks like a second-year program, as both losses to Randall this season have come in extra innings.
Randall now needs only one more win in the final five district games to clinch a playoff spot, so another postseason trip for a team which went to the state tournament last season seems like a formality. It hasn’t been easy, but perhaps that’s the point.
“I don’t know about nobody scoring after nine, but I definitely expected it to be like that,” said first-year Randall coach Brad Propst of the game’s tense nature. “We had Bryton for a year and we knew what he was capable of. When you’ve got Carson going for us that’s what we expect out of him, so it was a great job by both starting pitchers. To see a game end like that it’s rough, but these guys have been putting in workday in and day out and that’s what we’re focusing on.”
Bertrand was pulled after crossing the 100-pitch barrier after nine innings and relieved by Jeremiah Gutierrez to start the 10th. Kameron Johnson and Brae Silva reached on a walk and error, but Gutierrez retired the next two hitters before Collin Miller came to the plate.
Miller hit a high fly between left and center which neither left fielder Garrett Hamilton nor center fielder Kane White-Tinsley (who’d just entered the game) seemed to commit to fielding. White-Tinsley reached at the last second, but the ball went off his glove, allowing Johnson and Silva to score for a 2-0 lead.
Haffner was closing in on 110 pitches too, so he was relieved by Derik Arenas. Gutierrez singled to start the inning, but Kaden Dorman hit into a double play and Arenas struck out Gibson for the final out to preserve the win.
While Haffner wasn’t on the mound to finish it, he still got the win, and it seemed like the game belonged to him.
“I was expecting someone to go ya-ya and take it out of the park,” Haffner said. “We’ll take it. It was an unbelievable job by Bryton. I didn’t tell my teammates but I was nervous about this all weekend. It seems all those dudes (for West Plains) used to be part of us so it feels very personal.”
Since West Plains opened in the fall of 2022, a good bulk of the students there came over from Randall’s district, breeding a lot of familiarity between the two schools when it comes to extracurricular activities. That was on full display on the pitching mound.
Each starting pitcher walked only one batter, and Haffner’s free pass was issued intentionally. Bertrand struck out eight and gave up only three hits, most notably surviving Haffner’s leadoff triple in the fourth. Haffner gave up six hits.
Ironically, Jonnie Gifford was 4-for-4 for West Plains. Problem was, nobody was on base for any of Gifford’s hits.
“Those two guys did a heck of a job out there on the mound,” West Plains coach Colby Chandler said. “We executed pitches really well throughout the game. We’re proud of Bryton. He put us in a place where we could win a baseball game. It comes down to timely hits and we didn’t have any of that today.
“You couldn’t afford a mistake, but that doesn’t define this game. It was lost by not having those hits. You can’t win a game by not scoring a run.”
West Plains is now tied with Hereford for third in the district. The Wolves will travel to Hereford on Friday to try to break that tie.
Canyon rolls by Borger
With the loss by West Plains, Canyon took advantage to reclaim second place all alone in district, taking a big early lead to beat Borger 10-1 at home at Double Eagle Park.
The Eagles (18-5-1, 7-2) scored three runs in the first and four in the second to take control of the game. Carson Allen got the Eagles going offensively with a two-run home run in the first inning and he hit a three-run homer in the second.
Christian McGuire had two hits and score two runs for Canyon, while Colt Cruth had two hits and Sam Johnson drove in two runs.
Bayler Schilling pitched four shutout innings and gave up two hits with six strikeouts and no walks. Borger fell to 5-15-1 and 1-8.
In other 4-4A action Monday, Hereford picked up a 3-1 win over Dumas and Perryton shutout Pampa 10-0.
District 3-5A
Tascosa holds off Palo Duro
After weather delayed their clash for 24 hours, Tascosa moved closer to a playoff spot against Palo Duro at home Wednesday afternoon.
Tascosa took an early lead against Amarillo ISD rival Palo Duro and pitcher Charlie McKinney took it from there, throwing a complete game to help lift the Rebels to a 6-2 victory.
With the win, Tascosa (7-16, 4-5) has reduced its magic number to clinch a playoff berth to one, which will be attained if the Rebels win at Palo Duro (3-20, 0-7) on Friday.
The Rebels took a 3-0 lead after two innings, which was all the support McKinney needed. McKinney gave up only three hits and one earned run while striking out 11.
Holden True drove in two runs for Tascosa and Andrew Merrell had two hits. Lorenzo Castellanos and Jaymz Elder both had RBI singles for the Dons.
In the district’s other game, Caprock beat Plainview 7-4 on the road. That means both Tascosa and Caprock (8-13, 4-5) are a game behind second place Plainview (10-14, 4-3) in the standings.
District 1-3A
Bushland keeps cruising by beating Dalhart
The Bushland Falcons had a tougher time than usual but still got the same result Monday – a district win to end the first half of 1-3A.
Bushland stayed unbeaten atop the district by beating Dalhart 6-1 at home. It was the first time in district play this season that the Falcons (18-2-1, 5-0) didn’t inflict the 10-run mercy rule on an opponent.
Cannon Melban was big on the mound for Bushland, striking out 13 while giving up five hits in a complete-game victory.
Ty Purcell had three hits and drove in two runs for the Falcons while Bryson Jimenez drove in two runs. Dalhart fell to 5-5 and 2-3.
River Road falls to Tulia in slugfest
River Road had a solid game hitting the ball, but Tulia had a better one, as the Hornets beat the Wildcats 16-10 at home to stay in a tie for second place in district play.
Tulia (16-4, 3-2) scored nine runs in the bottom of the second to take momentum and never trailed. River Road (8-8, 1-4), though, didn’t give up, getting back in it with four runs in the third and three in the fourth and scored two in the top of the sixth to cut it to 11-10.
However, Tulia scored five in the bottom of the sixth to get some much-needed breathing room.
Tulia’s David Molina was 3-for-5 and drove in three runs. Three other Hornets had two hits apiece.
Tagan McLean drove in three runs for River Road and Seth Underwood drove in two.
In the other district clash, Dimmitt took care of Friona 17-5.
District 1-2A
Gruver erased a four-run deficit putting up seven unanswered run to get by West Texas High 10-7 on Tuesday afternoon.
WT High jumped out to a quick 7-3 start paced by a five-run top of the first. However, the Greyhounds roared back scoring three in the bottom of the fourth cutting the deficit 7-6. Gruver was able to take the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run single from Merritt Cudd putting Gruver up 8-7.
The Greyhounds tacked on two more insurance runs in the sixth to go up 10-7. Sutton Ward was 2-for-3 for the Gruver. Stephen Cowan had a double with an RBI and Briggs Satterfield pitched seven innings of relief allowing two earned runs with nine strikeouts.
Despite the loss, Adrian Villanueva was a perfect 4-for-4 for the Comanches with a double. Gruver (11-4 overall) is now 6-1 in District 1-2A. WT High (8-9) falls to 3-4 in district.
In the other league matchups, Sunray held off Follett 8-7, and Booker snuck past Sanford-Fritch 5-4.
District 2-2A
Wellington outslugged Memphis to earn a 12-9 victory on Monday.
The Skyrockets are now 3-1 in District 2-2A and 4-3 overall. Memphis falls to 1-4 in district.
Wellington’s Noah Cantu was 2-for-2 including a double and two RBIs.