Amarillo High’s Ryan Goodrich (23) celebrates with his teammates after an inside the park home run during the Sandies 13-1 win over Plainview at the Sandies Baseball Complex on Friday afternoon. [Ben Jenkins/ Press Pass Sports]
The Amarillo High Sandies took the principle of don’t get mad, get even to the logical extreme Friday afternoon against Plainview.
As it turned out, they got both in their final District 3-5A contest of the season against Plainview at Sandie Field.
Facing the only team to beat them the last two seasons in 3-5A play, the Sandies avenged a close loss two days earlier in most emphatic fashion. Amarillo High took the lead with 10 runs in the bottom of the first inning, and got a combined no-hitter from three pitchers to roll over the Bulldogs 13-1 in a five-inning 10-run mercy rule victory.
It was a far cry from what happened to Amarillo High (12-6, 5-2 in district) 48 hours earlier in Plainview, when they jumped out to a 5-0 lead only to see the Bulldogs (10-12-1, 5-2) rally and take their first lead of the game in the bottom pf the sixth for a 9-8 victory. The first inning outburst could be seen as the Sandies unleashing some frustration.
“We just had to break through and once we did the big inning happened,” AHS coach Randon Johnson said. “I think it was a little bit of frustration from the last couple of games and it was a little bit of the guys being prepared and ready for the moment. It was exciting to see the kids get through that.”
Plainview did win the season series since the Bulldogs opened district with a 5-3 win over Amarillo High. However, Amarillo High’s win ties the two teams for second in district a game behind Randall.
The game started like it would be another tough one for the Sandies. AHS left-hander Zach Swinney started and walked three of the first four batters he faced then hit Talon Ballesteros with a pitch to bring home a run and give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.
Swinney was pulled and Cooper Ivey relieved for the Sandies, who got a break when Damien Jiminez tried to bunt to squeeze home a run and missed, and Devin Rogers was left out to dry and tagged at home for the second out of the inning. Ivey got Jiminez to ground to short and end the inning, and that was it for Plainview’s offense.
Ryan Goodrich led off for the Sandies against Jiminez, and lined one the opposite way to right field. The ball rolled all the way to the fence and Plainview’s Isaac Garza had trouble retrieving it. Goodrich came all the way around to score on an inside the park home run to tie it and set the tone for the inning.
“Today I focused on getting on top of the ball and drove it the other way and it worked out,” Goodrich said. “I was thinking for sure three and I knew I was fast and (Johnson) started waving me and I knew I was going. With me especially coach Johnson’s always been aggressive about going to the next base.”
Johnson said that Garza’s hesitation in getting the ball away from the fence was all he needed to send Goodrich.
“(Garza’s) got a big arm but once that ball got stuck in the fence a little bit and Ryan rounded second we were looking to go the whole way,” Johnson said. “It was my job to stop him and I didn’t feel it got to the point where I should stop him.”
That merely opened the floodgates in an inning where the Sandies sent 16 batters to the plate and collected 10 hits and got help from three errors while knocking out Jiminez and reliever Gavin Galvan, who combined to record only one out, and that was when Brock Wade was caught stealing. Jake Self’s two-run double off Jiminez made it 3-1 and the Sandies never looked back.
Braize Mitchell and Brock Wade followed with RBI singles to make it 5-1 and by the time the inning was over it was 10-1.
Connor Haelzle, Mitchell, Wade and Jaxsen Hall all had two hits for the Sandies in the game. However, only Goodrich and Haelzle, the top two hitters in the lineup, were the only AHS batters with two RBIs.
Payne Williams came on in the third to pitch for the Sandies while staked to a big lead. Williams gave up only a walk to Rogers in the third and retired the final eight hitters to complete the no-hitter.
“I was expecting to come in later in the game,” Williams said. “I was hitting my spots and the defense behind me wasn’t making any errors. I think as a team we made a statement.”
The Sandies got their run-rule margin in the bottom of the fourth on Hall’s RBI single and concluded the inning on Haelzle’s sacfrifice fly.
Randall run-rules PD to take district lead
With Plainview falling to Amarillo High, Randall took advantage of that with a 12-0 five-inning run-rule win over Palo Duro to claim sole possession of the district lead.
Randall (14-7, 6-1) had a pair of big innings to make the difference against Palo Duro (4-12, 1-6). The Raiders scored five runs in the bottom of the second and six in the bottom of the fourth to invoke the run rule.
Jake Scott and Payton Bush both drove in three runs for Randall. Hagen Shedd started on the mound and picked up the win by throwing four no-hit innings and striking out six.
Tascosa rolls over Caprock
Tascosa completed a season sweep of Caprock, taking control of the game with eight runs in the top of the fifth in an 11-5 victory.
The Rebels (9-10-1, 4-3) scored three runs in the top of the second for a 3-0 lead, but Caprock (7-11, 0-7) came back and took a 4-3 lead in the fourth. That was short-lived, though, as Tascosa erupted for eight in the next inning to take the lead for good.
Brady Carroll, Javen Patrick and Davis Yaws drove in two runs apiece for Tascosa. Ryne Wingate pitched 3 2/3 innings of relief to earn the victory.
District 4-4A
Canyon rolls over Dumas
The Canyon Eagles scored their third straight run-rule win to open district play, as they cruised pastDumas 15-5 in five innings to remain tied for the district lead.
Canyon (10-6, 3-0) made a statement by taking a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Dumas (7-11, 2-1) never seriously threatened. The Eagles ended the game early with two runs in the bottom of the fifth.
Sam Johnson led Canyon’s offense by driving in five runs on a triple and a homer. Markus Barker and Ben Black both had three hits and Black and Diego Hernandez both drove in two runs.
Pampa’s Miranda no-hits Perryton
Pampa showed that it could challenge Canyon in district this season, as Armando Miranda threw a no-hitter to highlight a 12-1 win over Perryton to keep the Harvesters unbeaten in district at 3-0.
The Harvesters are 10-6 on the season. Perryton fell to 6-6-1 and 0-3.
In the other district game, Hereford beat Borger 3-1.
District 1-3A
Bushland crushes Dimmitt to complete big week
Bushland made a big statement in the first week of district play, finishing the week with a pair of run-rule wins, as the Falcons crushed Dimmitt 22-0 on the road in five innings Saturday.
Two days earlier, Bushland (11-2, 2-0) scored a 16-2 run-rule over metro rival River Road.
Bushland took control against Dimmitt (6-8-1, 1-1) with eight runs in the third inning. Dawson Jaco had three hits and drove in four runs and Stratton Malloy had three hits and drove in two runs. Clayton Fisher drove in two runs and Josh Bass threw five innings of one-hit shutout ball while going 3-for-3 with three RBIs.
River Road had a week of extremes. Two days after losing to Bushland, the Wildcats knocked off Tulia 31-0 to improve to 7-8 and 1-1.
H.S. District scores
District 1-3A
Dalhart 14, Friona 2
District 1-2A
West Texas High 13, Follett 1
Sanford-Fritch 4, Gruver 0
Sunray 12, Boys Ranch 2
District 2-2A
Kress 13, Memphis 3
Shamrock 10, Claude 7
Nazareth 10, Wellington 6
Clarendon 15, Valley 2