Mustangs fight back after suffering first loss in two months
When a team hasn’t lost in two months, that can beg the question of how it will respond when adversity appears.
Grapevine saw its 21-game winning streak end in Game 1 of the Class 5A Region I area playoff series against Granbury, 2-1. And then this team remained in a holding pattern for more than half of Game 2.
But a lead-off triple from Joe Leal in Grapevine’s fifth kick started a three-run fifth. The Mustangs went on to win 3-0 and then took the deciding game, 5-3, on Saturday. Grapevine advances to the regional quarterfinals against Wichita Falls Rider.
That best-of-three series will be played at Bowie (Texas) High School. The opener is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The second game is at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. A potential deciding third game would be at noon on Saturday.
Grapevine (27-4) may have seen its school-record winning streak end. But the tradeoff is that the season continues.
“Joe’s triple was huge on Friday because it woke us up in a way,” Grapevine coach Steve Hutcherson said. “We had to go back to the drawing board after Thursday, because some of things that made us successful, we didn’t do. Once we got going in the fifth, the entire bench felt like it was going to be our game.”
Leal, a junior who plays first base and has been a mainstay in the batting order in the No. 5 spot, also had a triple that played an important role in the Mustangs winning the clincher. Grapevine built an early 5-0 lead in the second inning and then had to survive the Pirate’s three-run sixth.
“It had been a while since we had gone through something like that,” Hutcherson said. “Our mentality and demeanor were a little different. But something like that can be good for you as long as you take something from it.”
If there is a Game 3 …
When Grapevine and Wichita Falls Rider (23-8) meet later this week, Hutcherson may have to decide who he would throw in a deciding third game. It’s likely that he will start the series with left-hander Kyle Flamm and right-hander Connor Neuman.
But if he believes in history, he could return to the Granbury Game 3 winner, senior right-hander Andrew Cain. Cain pitched a complete game against the Pirates, allowing six hits while striking out four.
“I decided a long time ago that I thought he could be a good matchup for Granbury,” Hutcherson said. “But going to him again is going to depend on a lot of factors. He can definitely do it. The good thing is that we have some depth.”
Rider, which features a pretty strong lineup, ousted defending 5A Region I champion Aledo in the area round.
Same location
For Grapevine and Wichita Falls Rider, Bowie just seems to be the ideal playoff location whenever these teams meet. The boys and girls basketball playoff doubleheader was also played in Bowie in February.
Colleyville Heritage season ends
The Panthers (21-14) were swept in their area playoff series against Keller this past weekend, 2-1 and 7-0. Colleyville Heritage managed 13 hits in the series, including four doubles. But it couldn’t make them count at the right time.
However, this was a solid bounce-back season for the Panthers after missing the 2015 postseason. This is a young team coming back, led by freshman shortstop Bobby Witt, junior right-hander Michael Stanford, junior center fielder Brooks Bostick, freshman third baseman Mason Greer, junior right-hander Isaiah Alvarenga and junior catcher Cameron Ehringer.
Colleyville Heritage will be dropping down to Class 5A and share the new District 8-5A with Grapevine, Richland, Birdville, Fort Worth Eastern Hills, Fort Worth Poly, Fort Worth Dunbar and Fort Worth Carter-Riverside.
“For sure it was a bounce-back year,” head coach Alan McDougal said. “We won six games last year. We just weren’t as sharp as we needed to be [against Keller]. The further you go in the playoffs, the margin for error is less and less.”
This story was originally published May 16, 2016 at 3:45 PM with the headline "Mustangs fight back after suffering first loss in two months."