Stacks and Mason help Spartans build a 4-0 lead with two home runs
Katy – The final four playoff spots were filled in District 19-5A, only seeding was left to be done. Memorial and Katy needed wins in their last regular season meetings to grab the first and second seeds respectfully while Taylor and Seven Lakes battled for the third and final spot.
Seven Lakes (16-16, 8-6) entered the contest one game behind host Katy Taylor with no playoff pressure but for a chance to earn the third seed.
Right hander Jeremy Montalbano pitched a complete game to go along with a balanced attack which included great defense and an offensive outburst as Seven Lakes blistered Katy Taylor 7-1 at Cerny Field on Friday night. The victory ties Taylor for the third spot and also sets up the tie breaker game to follow Saturday at Morton Ranch at noon.
The stellar pitching and great defense led fans to believe that a pitchers’ duel was on tap for the evening. In the first three innings of the game both pitchers had very little trouble facing batters until the top of the fourth when Seven Lakes Short Stop Kendall Stacks smash a fastball deep over the wall in left field.
“It really would have been a pitcher’s duel until Kendall got that pitch he was looking for, to be honest if Kendall didn’t hit that home run then. I don’t know if we kind of come out of our funk,” said Seven Lakes Coach Chad Payne. “We were putting the ball in play but they were making great plays. I think once Kendall got that home run our kids felt more confident and after that we found more holes and kept hitting the ball solid. I think we did a good job offensively but Jeremy did an outstanding job on the mound.
Montalbano was very effective from the start, using just six pitches to retire the side in the bottom of the first while counterpart Weston Silverburg threw ten before retiring the side in the top of the first.
“I really thought my mechanics were good today, the last few games I made too many mistakes,” said Montalbano.
The Mustangs (12-9, 8-6) could never string together any amount of hits mostly in part to Montalbano’s ability to keep batters guessing the entire game.
“It’s one of those weird games, I thought we played well,” Cory Bowyer Taylor’s Coach said. “We made a couple of mistakes on the mound that hurt us deeply with some big hits. We played good defense, I thought we got good pitching and we swung the bat pretty well, it’s just one of those nights where you get beat, both guys were hitting their spots all night but their guy bared down and got the outs when we had guys in scoring position.”
The turning point of the game happened in the top of the fifth inning with Michael Rivera on first and Brayson Longman on third with one out. Silverburg faced Spartan’s Ryan Capel who eventually fouled out in foul territory on the third base side to third baseman Matt Zapalac. Zapalac then missed the opportunity to double up Rivera who was off first base, which would have retired the inning. But instead lead hitter Evan Mason step to the plate and shelled a ball deep to straight away center, capitalizing with a three run shot to give Seven Lakes a 4-0 lead that they would never unleash.
“They were working me inside and outside and back inside. That was in the first at bat, so I kind of took that in consideration. The second at bat they did the exact same thing, so I just waited for that same pitch,” said Seven Lakes leadoff hitter Evan Mason.
Taylor’s lone run came in the bottom of the fifth inning when second baseman Drew Featherston singled home curtsey runner Grant Barclay.
The Spartans padded their lead in the sixth with three more runs.
Montalbano was charged with two balks but struck out eight, surrendered five hits and walked three batters.
