Boerne and Calallen’s best-of-three series came down to the final inning in Games 1 and 2, and in both cases, the Wildcats were able to score the winning runs in their final at bats.
Calallen took the first game, 3-1, and scored 2 of those runs in the seventh. The Wildcats then closed it out in Game 2 and broke a tie in the seventh with a single run for the 4-3 win to close out the series.
Calallen tallied 7 runs in the series and scored 3 of them in their last at bats in the two games to claim the Region IV-4A title and advance to the state tournament.
BHS ends its season at 30-11 and all first-year Greyhounds coach Geoff Curtin could do was tip his hat to the Wildcats.
“They were relentless, they’re going to Disch-Falk for a reason,” Curtin said about Calallen and the site where they’ll play at this year’s 4A baseball state tournament.
Game 2 Calallen 4, Boerne 3
CORPUS CHRISTI – Boerne scored runs in the first, third and seventh innings in Game 2, but the Wildcats answered in the bottom half of the inning all three times.
In the first, Jace Preston walked and Hudson McNew doubled to bring in Preston’s courtesy runner Ronnie Scarbrough for the 1-0 lead.
But the Wildcats answered with 2 runs in the bottom half of the inning with a hit batter, double and a single for the 2-1 lead.
The Greyhounds tallied another run in the third to tie it up at 2-2 after Dylan Perez was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a sac bunt by Walker Hill and then scored on a Preston RBI single.
Once again, the Wildcats answered. A hit batter, a BHS error and a sac fly helped Calallen drive in a run and retake the lead at 3-2.
It stayed there until the seventh when the Greyhounds tied it. Hill led off by getting plunked by a pitch.
Preston walked to give Boerne two runners on and no outs, while the Wildcats had to switch pitchers because starter Drayton Mitchell was at 109 pitches.
Calallen’s new pitcher, Cody Andrade, retired the next two BHS batters before Ryan Hooper singled to score Hill and knotted it up at 3-3 going into the bottom of the seventh.
Boerne pitcher Jackson Grimes started the seventh and walked the first batter he faced before he was replaced by Dylan Perez. Grimes was near his limit of 110 pitches and left at 106.
A hit batter by Perez gave the Wildcats runners at first and second with no outs. The next Calallen batter, Chase Lynch, hit a seeing-eye single that eluded Boerne shortstop Reese House.
The runner from second, Hayden Brock, rounded third and was sent home. Reese picked up the ball and made the throw home and there was a play at the plate but Brock was ruled safe to end it and advance the Wildcats to this year’s state tournament.
“It had eyes and it got in the hole,” Curtin said about the hit.
While Calallen came through with clutch hits in key moments, the timely hits escaped the Greyhounds in the series. Boerne left 10 runners on base in Game 2 and stranded runners in all seven innings.
“I think we got a runner at second base three innings in a row and just couldn’t score him,” Curtin said. “We got big hits all year, we just couldn’t get a big hit this game.”
Boerne also had a runner at third in the fourth and seventh frames and didn’t score. Of the 10 runners stranded in the game, 5 were left at second.
Still, Curtin said it was a great run for the 2024 Greyhounds.
“It’s been amazing and fun, the only way it would have been better is if we went to state,” he said. “Looking back, it’s been a great year and we’re so fortunate to be here.”
Game 1 Calallen 3, Boerne 1
SAN ANTONIO – Calallen took Game 1 over Boerne Thursday at the SAISD Spring Sports Complex to open the Region IV-4A finals.
The Wildcats broke up a 1-1 game with two runs in the top of the seventh for the 3-1 lead and held on for the victory.
The Hounds scored first in the game, but Calallen tallied the final three runs of the contest.
Boerne jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Walker Hill singled and moved to second on a wild pitch.
With two outs, Hudson McNew singled up the middle to score Hill from second and the Hounds went up 1-0.
But Calallen tied it in the second after they loaded the bases with a single, hit batter and a bunt single.
The fourth straight Calallen batter in the inning reached with a single to tie it at 1-1, and the bases were still juiced with no outs.
The Wildcats could have scored more but the Boerne defense turned a rare triple play to limit the damage to just that one run.
Calallen’s Justin Calderon came up to bat and hit a line drive to Boerne right fielder Jackson Grimes for the first out. The Calallen runner-up at third moved towards home, changed his mind and tried to make it back to third.
The Grimes throw was cut off by first baseman Hutson Hendrix, who tossed to BHS third baseman Ryan Hooper, who tagged the runner for the second out.
The Calallen runner at second tagged up and tried to advance to third and was tagged out by Hooper to complete the triple play.
Boerne’s defense also turned a double play in the first to keep the game close. It stayed at 1-1 as BHS pitcher Campbell Jackson and Wildcat hurler Collier Carroll settled in and didn’t give up much over the next few innings.
Jackson didn’t allow a hit over the next four frames and faced the minimum amount of batters from the third through sixth frames.
Carroll basically did the same thing and only allowed one hit to the Greyhounds in their last five at bats and also faced the minimum amount of batters from the third through the seventh frames.
Dylan Perez singled in the sixth, but the Wildcats turned a double play to only face three batters that inning.
It came down to the seventh and Calallen made its move in the top of the inning. The leadoff batter, Blake Quinn, walked and his courtesy runner, Sebastian Dennis, advanced to second on a sac bunt.
After the next batter flied out to right for the second out, Dennis scored from second on a Drayton Mitchell single for the 2-1 lead.
RJ Cruz followed and singled to push in Mitchell and it was 3-1.
After giving up one more single, Jackson was at his pitch limit and was replaced by Eli Srp, who finished it out.
Srp gave up a single and then got the next batter to fly out to Grimes in right for the third out, but Calallen held a 2-run lead.
Carroll also maxed out on his pitches but was able to retire the side in order in the bottom of the seventh with two strike outs and a ground out to end it.
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