Murphy, Texas
Baseball update
A
scheduling conflict has caused the Friday Pirates vs. Plano East game
to be relocated. New game time and place will be announce Thursday,
April 24.
Baseball
Panthers stuck in a dogfight
Victory over Allen would assure East of postseason berth
By Greg Ford
Sports Editor
gford@wylienews.com
Plano East took two steps forward a couple of weeks ago, and last week they took a couple back.
After falling 7-5 to Wylie in a homer-filled contest on April 15, the
Panthers dropped a 3-1 decision Friday at home to Plano.
That left them 8-5 and tied with Allen for second place.
The two teams met Tuesday in the regular-season finale, the results of
which were unavailable at press time.
“They’re not going to go cancel it. We've just got to go play,” head coach Travis Collins said following the Plano loss.
Should East lose, they could be tied with Wylie at 8-6, if the Pirates
defeated Lake Highlands, or in a three-way deadlock with the Pirates
and Berkner, should the Rams upend unbeaten district champion Plano
West, which also took place Tuesday.
In the event of a three-way tie, those teams would face off in a “mini-tournament.”
A coin toss would determine which teams would play first and the odd
man out would face the winner of that first game.
East won the district crown a year ago, only to lose a bi-district series to Rockwall.
A victory last week over the Pirates or Wildcats would have secured a postseason berth.
In the April game, East and Wylie decided to engage in some long ball,
with round trippers being hit, including five by Wylie.
Jeff Emens got PESH’s lone round tripper, while Jake Feckley (the
winning pitcher), Austin Atwell, Daniel Jordan and Wade Venett (two
homers) each went yard for Wylie.
Venett’s blast was a walk-off shot that ended the game.
Emens also doubled and singled in the game, as did Justin Snider. Lance
Hanzel had a double, while T.J. Bowe, Logan Reneau and Nick Bell each
had a single.
East’s bats weren’t quite as loud Friday against Plano.
The Wildcats scored first in the top of the second when Chris Heinritz singled in Paul Chaney with a two-out shot to center.
PESH responded in the bottom of the inning with its lone run. That came
after Conner Zmolik hit a two-out double down the left field line and
then scored on Nick Bell’s infield single.
The score remained deadlocked until the top of the sixth, which began
with Plano’s Clint Strong singling and then moving to second on a wild
pitch.
Brett Johnson doubled to right to score Strong and then moved to third
on a ground out. He scored on Chaney’s sacrifice fly to right.
East nearly took the lead in the bottom of the inning, after it loaded
the bases with just one out. Hanzel stepped up to the plate and
launched a home run shot to left field that was barely foul.
“I wasn’t looking at it (after hitting the ball),” Hanzel said. “When I
started rounding first I found it was foul. I just came back (to the
plate) and felt like I could definitely hit him.”
On the next pitch, Hanzel nailed a lined out into a double play.
“I hit it pretty hard, but it was right at him,” Hanzel said.
Writer Shiela K. Haynes contributed to this story.
District 9-5A
Baseball
Standings as of Tuesday, April 22
based on reported scores
|
Team |
District |
|
Plano West |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4-9 |
|
Yellow = clinched district title
|
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