Baseball wins Bi-District Championship
Heading into the weekend, Wimberley had hit one ball out of the park all year.
The second one was well worth the wait.
The Wimberley Texan baseball team faced Salado for the Bi-District Championship this weekend. The three-game series started off hot for Wimberley with a 7-5 win.
Wimberley has been quick to get on the scoreboard in recent weeks, meaning the team is used to playing from ahead. It was a new position on Thursday when Salado took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Wimberley would have to fight back.
“It was nerve racking,” Head Coach Stephen Wisdom said. “In situations like that with a wet, sloppy, muddy field, you can end up giving away a game because of something you can’t control.”
A few walks and two errors allowed Salado to jump out to a the 2-0 lead.
Wimberley struck back in the bottom of the second inning. What looked to be a turning point in the ball game ended up being an emotionally draining onerun inning.
“We loaded up the bases in the bottom of the second inning with no outs,” Wisdom said. “We just couldn’t square one up or get a line drive to make it hurt.
Wimberley would only come always with one run. In the third inning, the same fear struck again. Caleb Cervenak walked as did Braden Wallace. Zach Britton got an RBI for the second run of the game on a fielder’s choice. After another walk, the bases were loaded once again, but things started things started taking a turn for the better. A hit batsman and another walk led to Wimberley scores. By the end of the inning, Wimberley had the lead 5-2.
“Our kids were really selective at the plate,” Wisdom said. “They had a good pitcher on the mound but maybe the conditions were playing with his head. We were not swinging at crazy stuff that night.”
Wimberley scored two more in the bottom of the fifth inning and after giving up a scary three-run sixth inning, the game was in the bag. Wimberley would have to win one out of the next two games to advance in the playoffs on Saturday.
Britton was on the mound for the game. He held Salado scoreless through the first six innings.
“Anytime they battled for something, he buckled down and battled too,” Wisdom said. “It was pretty neat to watch.”
In the second inning, Britton gave up two hits in a row but battled back to keep the game scoreless. In the third inning, a runner reached on an error, but Britton was able to get the next three batters out. In the sixth inning, the first two runners were aboard. Once again, Britton battled back to keep the game scoreless.
With a 0-0 tie in the top of the seventh and final inning, Britton took the game into his own hands at the plate. The pitcher singled to get a runner on base. Ashton Naylor came on as a courtesy runner, but it turns out, his speed was not needed on the base paths.
Jack Meismer stepped to the plate and blasted a shot over the right-centerfield wall.
“I thought it was gone as soon as he hit it,” Wisdom said. “The kids exploded off the bench. They knew it was hit well enough to get out of there… You could hear them. They were excited, screaming and yelling and hollering.”
“It was our third homerun this year, and one of those was an in-the-park homerun,” Wisdom continued. “This was only the second one we’ve put over the fence.”
But the game wasn’t done yet. After an insurance run to make it 3-0, Wimberley had to decide who would go back on to the mound to close the game. One night earlier, Cullen Cabler had been brought in to close the game striking out two batters in the seventh inning. On this night, Wisdom was ready to hand the ball back to his starting pitcher.
“I warmed up a couple of guys but Britton had done such a good job I gave it to him,” Wisdom said. “I said, ‘This is yours. You go get it.’ And he did. It was dad-gum neat to watch.”
Wimberley closed out the Bi-District Championship in two games against Salado with a final score of 3-0 after Britton’s complete game shutout.
Next up for Wimberley in the Area round of the UIL playoffs is Fushear High School, a new school in the Houston area. The series will once again be a best of three. On Friday, the first game will be played a 7 p.m. at Strickland Field in Weimer, Texas. The second game will start at 2 p.m. on Saturday and the third game will follow if necessary. Game times and locations could change due to weather.