Champion needed a win Friday to force a third game on Saturday
SAN ANTONIO – Runs were at a premium during Thursday’s second-round playoff game between Boerne Champion and MacArthur.
In fact, there was only one run scored in Game 1 between the Chargers and Brahmas at the SAISD Baseball Complex.
After five scoreless innings, MacArthur pushed in the only run of the game in the sixth and it held until the end as the Brahmas won 1-0 for the 1-0 series lead.
Game 2 was Friday, and the Chargers needed a win to force a third game on Saturday.
Champion stood at 25-8 after Thursday’s setback and of their eight losses so far this year, five have come via shutouts.
Starting pitchers Sawyer Smith from Champion and MacArthur’s Korey Alston were sharp and each hurler had only given up four hits through the first five innings that barely took an hour to complete, but the game changed in the sixth frame.
Mac’s J.T. Gray walked (the only walk of the game issued by Smith) and then Alston singled to move Gray to third with no outs.
At that point, the Brahmas tried the “skunk in the outfield” play (See explanation in info box.) Alston took a big lead and was basically on the grass in shallow right field between first and second, hoping to get into a run down to free up Gray at third.
The Chargers handled the situation well as shortstop Garland Whitehead stood between first and second and held the ball for the majority of the time. Whitehead would walk Alston back towards first, while always keeping an eye on Gray.
After about five minutes of this, Whitehead threw to third baseman Austin Garritano to push Gray back to the bag. When the throw went to third, Alston broke for second, but Garritano threw to second baseman Andrew Harrison who tagged Alston out to end that wild sequence.
While the Chargers did record the out, it was only the first of the inning at that point, and two batters later, Ivan Castillo singled to bring in Gray for the 1-0 lead.
Champion centerfielder Cal Isley almost came up with a spectacular catch on the Castillo hit. Isley laid out on the play and appeared to have the ball in his glove, but it popped out of the mitt when Isley hit the ground, and Gray made it safely home for the only run of the game.
Champion never advanced a runner past second base in the game. In the fourth, Whitehead made it to second but was stranded, and in the seventh, Smith helped his cause with a double to start the inning.
But Alston induced the next two Chargers to pop up for two quick outs. Sawyer’s courtesy runner, Mark Thompson, broke for third while Harrison was at the plate and Thompson was tagged out to end it there.
Mac finished with 6 hits and Champion tallied 5 hits. Whitehead, Jaedyn Yamaguchi, Aidan Smith and Owen Kuhl all singled, while Sawyer Smith doubled in the seventh with a hit that sailed over the leftfielder’s head.
Smith only walked one batter and struck out 3, while Alston only walked one as well and fanned 6.
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