Semifinal sorrows
SULPHUR — Sure, Catholic High baseball coach David Jordan was disappointed his team could not advance to the Division III finals following Wednesday’s 4-0 loss to No. 4 Calvary Baptist in semifinal action at McMurry Park.
However, he said he also was proud of his team, the No. 8 seed.
Catholic High (19-18), which at one point sported a 2-14 record before hitting a hot streak that carried over to the playoffs, overcame early-season adversity and still finished its season in the Division III semifinals like the 2018 squad.
“In 35 years of coaching, I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of a group of kids,” he said.
Jordan said that his team “showed a lot of character, a lot of heart, a lot of drive” this season.
“A lot of teams would have given up and lost confidence in themselves, lost confidence in the coaches in what we were trying to do, but our kids never gave up,” Jordan said. “We ended up winning almost 20 ballgames. We won 19 games.”
Wednesday, it simply was a matter of Calvary taking advantage of timely hitting.
While Calvary (30-9) out-hit Catholic High just 6-5, three of those hits drove in all four runs.
In the bottom of the third, the Cavaliers scored a run on Fox Locke’s two-out RBI-single to centerfield.
Calvary added three runs in the fifth via a two-RBI single by Locke to center field and an RBI-single to right field by Blaine Rogers three batters later.
Locke finished the day 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run, while Rogers was 1-for-2 with an RBI.
Catholic High got runners on base against Calvary Baptist pitcher Cade Hart but couldn’t bring them home.
In a complete-game effort, Hart surrendered five hits and fanned eight.
“He’s pretty good. … He was everything the scouting report said he would be, so I knew runs would be at a premium,” Jordan said.
Jordan said Catholic High also couldn’t give up many runs, either, if the Panthers wanted to win the game.
Catholic High had at least one runner reach first base in the first, the third, the fifth, the sixth and the seventh innings, but each time, the Panthers could not advance him to second base.
Calvary spoiled Catholic High opportunities in the third and sixth innings with double plays to eliminate base runners, while twice Catholic High runners were caught stealing.
Jacob Poe suffered the loss. In five innings, he surrendered four earned runs on seven hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
Poe hung with Calvary for much of the game.
“I don’t think that was Jacob’s best game,” Jordan said.
“His velocity looked like it was a little bit down, but their hits were just timely. They didn’t hit him all over the park. I think they only had six hits, but they were together. … It’s not how many you get.
“It’s when you get them.”
Offensively, Poe had a 2-for-3 performance, while Chris Landry also was 2-for-2.