Wylie, Texas

First-round sting

Yellowjackets outlast Pirates to capture bi-district playoff

By Shiela K. Haynes
Contributing writer

The Pirates fell last weekend to Rockwall in a best-of-three bi-district playoff series.

After dropping Game 1 at Rockwall 6-3 on Friday, Wylie earned a 4-3 home win in eight innings on Saturday afternoon.

In the third contest, which immediately followed Game 2, Wylie fell 5-4.

Coach Dustin Toth said, “It wasn’t like we came out with happy-to-be-there attitudes. We definitely wanted to move on in the playoffs. We had our chances, but we didn’t get the guys in when we had opportunities. The playoffs are a pressure atmosphere. You have to bear down and take care of business. Rockwall got it done.”

Rockwall moves on to face Mesquite in the area round.

Wylie had early-season difficulties when hitting with runners in scoring position, but they overcame that during the second half of the district schedule. They hit the ball extremely well while maintaining great pitching and terrific defense.

They were red hot heading into the playoffs, having won 10 of their last 11 games.

In an April 25 contest versus Plano East, which determined the final district standings, they won 3-0 to capture third place in District 9-5A.

Against Rockwall, Pirate hitters struggled with runners on base. The week off because of TAKS testing may have affected them.

Toth said, “It took us out of our routine. Usually you finish up district play and start playoffs right after that. But Rockwall had to do the same thing, so it wasn’t like we were in a different situation than we were. The only teams that are in the playoffs are the ones who are prepared.”

The Yellowjackets entered the playoffs on a six-game winning streak.

“We were basically playing a mirror image of ourselves. They had three good pitchers. They had four or five good hitters. They played solid defense,” said Toth.

As the teams took the field for game one, fans were treated to an unexpected “blonde” moment as virtually all of the players on both teams sported brassy blonde hair color for the contest.

Wylie took a two-run lead in the first inning of Game 1.

Wade Venett singled to left field and scored on Daniel Jordan’s home run over the left centerfield wall.

The Yellowjackets scored three runs each in the third and fourth innings.

Wylie threatened several times during the middle innings, but left eight base runners stranded.

In the top of the seventh Matt Bass drew a walk and then scored on Daniel Saxon’s double over the first baseman’s head for the Pirates’ third run.

Jake Feckley pitched a complete game while taking the loss.

Wade Venett scored in the bottom of the first during Game 2. He got on base with a stand-up double, moved to third on Jordan’s grounder to first and scored on Feckley’s single to shallow right field.

The lead held up until the fourth inning when Rockwall scored two runs.

Wylie retook the lead 3-2 in the fifth inning, when Bass and Saxon scored. However, the Yellowjackets tied it in the sixth, 3-3.

In the bottom of the eighth, Feckley led off with a single and catcher Taylor Cloyd followed that with a hit.

Steven Curtis came in to pinch run for Feckley, who rolled his ankle going into second, while Alex Boliver was a courtesy runner for Cloyd.

Both runners advanced on a Rockwall pickoff attempt that went awry. Brandon Mays then singled to third, scoring Curtis and setting up the Game 3 showdown.

The rubber game was scoreless through three innings, but then Rockwall scored in the top of the fourth.

In the same inning, the Pirates strung together a few hits to pick up two runs.

Cameron Rice drew a walk, advanced to second on Feckley’s single and went to third on a single to left by Cloyd.

Mays drew a bases-loaded walk, and Rice trotted in for a run. Feckley then scored on an error by Rockwall’s pitcher to put Wylie up 2-1.

Rockwall responded with four runs in the fifth inning to go ahead 5-2.

Jordan and Austin Atwell crossed the plate in the bottom of the inning to narrow the margin to 5-4.

Wylie’s last-gasp effort came up short. They left one runner stranded in the sixth and two in the seventh.