Baseball advances to playoff’s Regional Quarterfinals
May 18, 2023
The boys will take on The Woodlands in a best-of-3 series at Tomball Memorial in the Regional Quarterfinals round of the playoffs, starting tonight at 7. Game 2 is Friday night at 7 and Game 3 is Saturday at 11 a.m., if needed.
Varsity baseball finished off their regular season, 21-11, going 10-4 in district play, once again securing a playoff spot for the twelfth season in a row under Head Coach Douglas Rush.
The Cougars opened up the first round of playoffs last week against Cypress Ranch with a clean sweep after beating the Mustangs in back-to-back games.
Game one was another dominating outing for the boys as Freshman Karson Reeder pitched yet another complete game, keeping the opponents scoreless in the 3-0 win.
“Playing at 6A level at such a young age is not easy,” Reeder said. “Every game I go out there with a chip on my shoulder and the mentality that I will pitch my best.”
Game two was a much closer battle, they started off hot scoring three runs in the top of the first inning.
Even with the high-scoring start, the uphill battle had just begun. After a few infield errors, the Mustangs slowly came back within one run as the Cougars were up 5-4 going into the bottom of the seventh.
It all came down to Senior Pitcher and the University of Michigan signee Zachary Slayden to retire the side. Slayden struck out the first batter, then walked the next batter who eventually stole second. During the same at-bat a ground out to short racked up the second out with only one out left to go.
After a long at-bat, the count was 2-2 and Slayden threw a fastball just outside to make it a full count but Junior and Louisiana State University commit Cade Arrambide saw the runner at second slip and picked him off for the final out of the game, securing the Bi-District Championship.
“I’m glad Coach Rush trusted me out there with the ball to shut it down,” Slayden said. “It was a tough situation but I trusted my pitches and my teammates to get it done.”
The Area Championship was secured in similar fashion as the Coogs swept College Park with back-to-back wins.
