Three two out rallies
halt the bearcats
For the Bearkats this season may be remembered as the one that got away. Coming into Round Rock as the state top 5A team, expectations were high.
Both Carroll and Klein advance to finals with walk off hits in bottom of the 7th inning of their semifinal games.
Most valuable player sophomore sensation Courtney Hawkins pitched a complete game, tossing 140 pitches, gave up 10 hits, struck out 6 batters while helping Corpus Christi Carroll Tigers (37-7) upset the Klein Bearkats 5-2 in the class 5A title game Saturday afternoon at Dell Diamond. The win gave Carroll their first state title in any sport.
Hawkins (10-1)with a bulldog like mentality was a stud on the mound picking key moments to get a much needed out with a strike out or great defensive behind him but the play of day came on an diving game saving over the shoulder acrobatic catch by Mark blackmar who took away at least two possible Bearkat runs.
“I had to do the same thing I’ve done all year, just little bigger game, little bigger crowd and play with heart. It was on my mind the whole time the fact that they’re a great team (speaking about Klein), I had to make good pitches, I knew they wouldn’t go down, they’re going to stroke the ball and they did but our defense made plays behind us,” said Carroll’s Pitcher Courtney Hawkins.
Leading 2-1 with two outs in the top of the 5th Carroll’s Jason Franco two run single scored Trey Rodriguez and Oshea Dumes which was proved to be the difference in the game.
“Baseball is such a game of luck; it’s such a game of weird bounces. If that first baseman makes that play last night we’re probably not even talking to you today (speaking of Clements first baseman John Stanford) but if you play hard, play all 42 outs as hard as you can. There’s no time clock in the game, you get your 21 outs and they get their 21 outs and you just continue to play hard. You may have a chance to do something special and we did today,” said Carroll’s Coach Lee Yeager.
Klein led the game 1-0 on an unearned run. In the bottom of the 1st Rob Tasin doubled to centerfield and move to second on Mitchell Nau’s grounder to second base. Tasin scored when Tigers Shortstop Rodriguez throw was too high to first baseman Dumes, pulling him off first base after a sharp grounder hit by Eric Fisher.
Cruz led off the top of the second for the Tigers with an infield single; Dumes reached on an error, Franco got a base on balls to load the bases. Cano’s grounder to Shortstop Reese Jefferies erased Franco going to second but the throw to first base was off target pulling Fisher off the base, that allowed Cruz to score, tying the game at one.
Cano’s infield bunt single started another two out rally in the 4th inning. DH Malcolm Cepeda followed with a single to left field as Cano raced around second beating the throw to third while Cepeda took second. Then Adam Hinojosa legged out an RBI infield single to first base which plated Cano to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.
Yet again with two outs the Tigers Franco serve the honors with a bases loaded two run single sending home Rodriguez and Dumes increasing the lead 4-1. Cano’s RBI single to left field capped the scoring.
Klein’s (33-7) chance of a big inning was foiled after both Rutter and Lancaster got on base with singles and no outs. Hank Morgan then struck out standing for the first out of the inning followed by a perfect double play with a grounder to second baseman Hinojosa who toss the ball to Shortstop Rodriguez who was covering second base and on to first to complete the double play.
“We were pretty pumped and excited coming into the game but wasn’t able to close the door. It’s been a real exciting year, but today it didn’t go our way. We thought we could get them for awhile but hats off to them they hit the ball and made plays. The center fielder made a heck of a play (speaking about the game ending catch by Blackmar). It’s been a lot of fun for me and my teammates. It’s unfortunate we could come out here and win the big one,” said Klein’s Pitcher Mike West.
The Bearkats entered the game as Baseball Americas top team.
