District 4-4A
Showing the form that got them to the top of the district, the West Plains Wolves didn’t fool around to close the regular season, taking the lead on Pampa early and coasting to a 12-0 10-run mercy rule win in five innings to clinch a No. 1 seed and district title at home.
West Plains (23-5-1, 13-1) clinched not only the outright district title, but the No. 1 seed in the 4A Division I bracket in the UIL’s first year of using two tiers in all sports along with football. The Wolves will face Andrews in the bidistrict round next week, with game one scheduled for Thursday at 4:30 in Andrews and game two Friday at 3 p.m. at West Plains.
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Jesse Flores led off the first for West Plains with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly for the only run the Wolves needed. They scored in each of their four innings, putting up four runs in the fourth to attain the run rule.
Will Grisham, Ethan Bentley and Adrian Lucero combined to give up one hit on the mound for West Plains.
Ladd, Bentley, Elijah Vasquez and Kaiden Dorman all drove in two runs each for the Wolves. Jarren Hill had the lone hit for Pampa (14-11-1, 7-7), which will go to the playoffs as the No. 2 seed in Division II.
While West Plains ended their hopes of grabbing a No. 1 seed and at least a share of the district title, the Canyon Eagles still took care of business in their final home game of the regular season, using a big fourth inning to take the lead for good and cruising to a 14-6 victory.
Canyon (24-4, 12-2) finished second in the district and will be the No. 2 seed in the Division I bracket.
Hereford (13-14-1, 5-9) took a 4-3 lead with four runs in the top of the third, as Tell Bryant hir a two-run double to tie the game and scored on Gavin Hill’s groundout to give the Whitefaces the lead. However, that marked the Herd’s high point.
The Eagles came back with seven runs in the bottom of the fourth. Carson Allen’s triple drove in Jacob Burris to put Canyon ahead for good and was the first of five straight hits for the Eagles. Burris, batting for the second time in an inning where the Eagles sent 12 batters to the plate, capped the inning with a two-run single.
Canyon’s Zabien Urteaga drove in four runs and Burris drove in three. Hereford’s Bryant drove in four runs.
In a game interrupted by lightning at Randall on Friday and continued at Highland Park on Saturday, Randall ended the season on a winning note, scoring three runs in the bottom of the fifth and ended up scooting by Borger, 4-1.
Randall (18-9-1, 9-5) was already in the playoffs, as the Raiders had assured themselves the district’s No. 3 playoff spot and the No. 1 seed in the Division II bracket. Borger finished winless in district at 0-14 and was 6-19 overall.
The Bulldogs, though, got the upper hand after the teams retook the field in the bottom of the fourth of a game which was scoreless on Friday. In the top of the fifth, Lincoln drove home a run on a double to give Borger a 1-0 lead.
Randall responded in the bottom of the inning. The Raiders broke a 1-1 tie when Collin Miller drove in a run with a triple and scored on Dylan Ray’s double to make it 3-1.
District 3-5A
In a week to close the regular season and determine the District 3-5A champion, the Amarillo High Sandies got a pair of stellar starting pitching performances against Lubbock-Cooper.
The problem was, Cooper had two which were better.
Friday night at Cooper, Amarillo High right-hander Taegen Tate threw a one-hitter over six innings without giving up an earned run. However, Cooper’s Jake Qualia did the same thing over seven innings and didn’t give up anything, which translated into a 1-0 Cooper victory which relegated Amarillo High to second place in the district.
The Sandies (20-10-1, 13-3 in district) got the kind of starting pitching they needed in their two games against Cooper (22-9, 14-2), which won the district title. Tuesday, left-hander Clayton Norrell gave up one run in five innings, but the bullpen collapsed in an 11-3 loss.
Tate was even better against the Pirates in the second game. He gave up one hit and struck out eight, giving up only an unearned run in the bottom of the third, the only time either team crossed home plate in the game, as Cooper’s Kyler Gibson singled and eventually scored on an error.
Amarillo High’s Tate Blackwell had the only hit off Qualia with a single in the third. The Sandies didn’t place another runner on base until Tate walked to lead off the seventh, but Qualia retired the side in order, including a pair of strikeouts, to end it.
The Tascosa Rebels put themselves in a good position to stay alive for a playoff berth Saturday afternoon, but it wasn’t meant to be.
After beating Lubbock Coronado in their home finale Tuesday to stay mathematically alive for the postseason, the Rebels traveled to Lubbock for the second game of the series with a chance to keep their season going, but only with a win. A rally in the top of the seventh fell short, as Tascosa lost 9-8 and was eliminated from the playoff picture.
The result ended up not mattering to Tascosa (15-11, 8-8) since Plainview beat Lubbock High to clinch the district’s fourth and final playoff spot.
Coronado (19-10, 13-3) took control of the game after the Rebels went up 1-0 in the top of the first. The Mustangs scored eight runs in the third and fourth innings combined to go up 8-1.
Tascosa rallied in the top of the fifth, as Jude Cunningham’s two-run double and a pair of groundouts cut the lead to 8-5. It was 9-5 heading into the seventh and the Rebels got five hits, all singles, to cut the score to 9-8 and had the go-ahead run at first with two outs, but James Naylor struck out to end the game.
Cunningham drove in three runs for the Rebels while Holden True drove in two.
District 1-3A
Bushland kept its hopes alive for a district title, as the Falcons opened the game with 14 straight runs en route to a 14-1 five-inning run-rule victory at Tulia.
The Falcons (14-10, 9-2) stayed tied with Dalhart for the district lead.
Bushland took control of the game with six runs in the top of the second. The Falcons opened the inning with four straight hits, capped by Landon Howell’s two-run single to make it 9-0.
Howell was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and Ty Askins also drove in three runs for the Falcons. Wade McConnell pitched five innings and scattered for hits while striking out eight for the win.
Bushland closes the regular season Monday by hosting River Road, which remained winless in district with an 8-2 loss to Dalhart. The Wildcats are now 4-15 and 0-11.
The Golden Wolves are also 9-2 in District 1-3A after handing River Road an 8-2 loss Friday. Dalhart (12-8) opened the game up with five runs in the first three innings. Kevin Rios had a team-high three RBIs on a 2-for-3 day at the dish. Caden Bird did his job on the hill working 6.1 innings allowing six hits without an earned run with seven strikeouts.
District 1-2A
Gruver is headed to the postseason on a regular season roll by beating Booker 12-5 in a district crossover game Friday afternoon in Booker.
The Greyhounds, the District 1-2A champions, end the regular season at a perfect 14-0 and will be the No. 1-seed in the UIL Class 2A Division II playoffs. Booker finishes the regular season with an 11-4 mark and will be the No. 1-seed out of the district in the Class 1A playoffs.
Stephen Cowan was 2-for-4 against the Kiowas with two RBIs on Friday. Teammate Briggs Satterfield also added an RBI.
Sunray completed the week sweep of Sanford-Fritch with a convincing 13-0 victory Friday. The Bobcats (12-3) enter the playoffs as the top-seed in Division II. Fritch (10-7) will be the No. 2-seed in Division II.
Parker Johnson threw five scoreless innings for Sunray without allowing a run racking up nine strikeouts. Luke Grajeda added an RBI triple.
West Texas High finished out the regular season taking down Highland Park 11-1 at home. The Comanches (8-11) will head to the playoffs as the No. 2-seed in Division II.
Coleson Hampton had the hot bat going 2-for-3 with a game-high four RBIs. Landan Williams handcuffed Highland Park on the bump working five innings of one-hit baseball with 10 K’s.
District 2-2A
Wellington had to earn it but won the District 2-2A championship with a pair of wins against Memphis on Wednesday and Friday.
On a game that started Tuesday, but finished Wednesday due to inclement weather, the Skyrockets battled back to beat the Cyclones 9-8. Wellington then won with a walk-off Friday to stun Memphis 6-5.
Wellington (11-5) is headed to the postseason as the No. 1-seed in Division II. During Wednesday’s victory, the Skyrockets scored three runs in the top of the seventh highlighted by a Major Brown single that scored Hunter Hedrick giving Wellington the go-ahead run.
On Friday, Leo Granadoz had the heroics with a bloop single scoring Hedrick for the game-winner in the bottom of the eighth.