Sophomore Jordan Wicks lined a two-out single in the bottom of the 11th inning, giving the Conway Wampus Cats an 8-7 marathon victory over conference rival Catholic in Saturday's semifinals of the Class 7A state tournament at DeJanis Memorial Field in North Little Rock.
Wicks sent a one-strike offering from Catholic senior Ben Bryles to left field to score junior McCall Dail with the winning run and put an end to a contest that took 3 hours and 37 minutes to play.
"There was so much adrenaline flowing," Wicks said. "It was exciting the entire time. It was constantly keeping us on edge. My teammates, they were just amazing."
The victory sends Conway (23-7) to Friday's state championship game against Bryant at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.
Saturday's game featured a combined 30 hits, 30 runners left on base, 21 strikeouts, 10 walks and 7 hit batters. Of the combined 15 runs, 12 of them were scored thanks to two-out hits.
And Conway won without the services of head Coach Noel Boucher, who was serving a one-game suspension for being ejected from Friday's 8-6 victory over Bentonville after arguing a balk call.
"He picked a wild one to miss," said Conway assistant Barry Lueders. "But it seems like every time we play Catholic -- in season, postseason, whatever -- it's always the same. It comes down to the end every time."
It was the third meeting between the two rivals this season and the second one to have gone into extra innings. Conway also won an eight-inning affair April 12.
Conway's victory places the Cats in a state championship game for the second consecutive season. Catholic (23-7) was hoping to get back to a baseball state championship game for the first time since 1980, and seemingly was on its way to earning a trip to Northwest Arkansas after scoring three runs in the eight inning. Conway, however, rallied for three runs in the bottom half of the eighth.
"We've been right there," Catholic Coach Dustin Strube said. "We've been to the [semifinals] five of the last nine years. We've been heartbroken a couple of times, but nothing like this."
Eight players came up with multiple hits, including Dail, who started the game-winning rally with his fourth single, a two-out grounder to center. He advanced to second when Jack Stroth was hit by a pitch. Wicks, who had singled in the first but who had gone 0 for 4 with a walk since, sent a liner that fell approximately 10 feet safely inside fair territory in left field.
"I was just trying to put a solid swing on the ball," Wicks said. "The last time up I was late on [Bryles'] two fastballs. After I saw the first one, I decided I wasn't going to be late on this one. ... I was hoping McCall would score from second. It was a great feeling when I saw it land."
Cade Tucker, who was Conway's starting pitcher, played a huge role in Conway's three-run eighth inning, belting a two-run double to the left-center field wall. It was his third RBI of the game.
Two batters later, sophomore Matt Lloyd tied the contest with the fourth of his five singles.
Neither team would score again until the 11th.
"We had already had three chances to win the game before the eighth and we didn't come through," Lueders said. "I'm thinking, 'we've probably given it up.' But we never give up. The guys just kept plugging and good things happened."
Conway, held to one run through the first five innings, took a 4-3 advantage in the sixth when Dail and Stroth hit back-to-back singles. Catholic responded with a two-out rally of its own.
Sophomore Evan Hiatt hit into a fielder's choice for the second out of the seventh inning. Freshman William Plafcan came into pinch run. Senior Lance Harville-Thomas lined a pitch to the left-field corner for a double. Plafcan stumbled running around third base and fell halfway between the bag and home plate. Plafcan, however, recovered and managed to score to send the game into the bottom of the seventh.
Catholic senior Joe Myers slugged a two-run home run in the fifth inning to give the Rockets a 3-0 lead. He finished with three hits and was walked intentionally twice. Bryles and Harville-Thomas both added three hits.
Grayson Pinkett wound up as the winning pitcher. He worked the final 31/3 innings, gave up 1 hit, struck out 5 and walked 3. Pinkett entered the game having thrown only four innings for the Wampus Cats all season.
Sophomore Hank Hannah started for Catholic, gave up six hits in 52/3 innings. He struck out 6, walked 2 and hit 3 batters. Bryles took the loss.
Sports on 05/15/2016