Jarrett Boswell hit a walk-off single to give Grapevine a 6-5 win over Lovejoy and the 5A State Championship Title. The hard-fought game had several dramatic moments in the 7th inning culminating in the walk-off hit.
Grapevine jumped out to a big lead early when they picked up 4 big runs in the bottom of the 1st. Sammy Kelley singled and Peyton Tatum got on by an error. Jarett Boswell followed with a single to left field to score Kelley. Tatum then scored on a passed ball. Boswell scored on a Lale Esquivel ground out and Ryan Williams scored on a Gianni Corral sacrifice fly. After one inning of play, Grapevine led 4-1.
Lovejoy got back into the game in the 3rd inning. Logan Corley led off with a double and Kyle Branch followed with an RBI single that scored courtesy runner Braden Smith. With one out, Asa Lacy doubled to left field and scored Garrett Hutchins. Reese Ogden also scored on an Arren Marshall ground ball to cut the Grapevine lead to 4-3.
Grapevine picked up another run in the 4th when Esquivel scored on a Zackary Goldstein sac fly. That increased Grapevine’s lead to 5-3.
Relief pitcher Luke Scheyer came in to pitch for Grapevine in the fourth inning. He did not give up a hit through the 4th, 5th and 6th innings and things were not looking good for Lovejoy heading into the 7th down two runs. But Branch started the inning off with his second hit of the game and Hutchins followed with a double that scored Branch from first, cutting Grapevine’s lead to 5-4. Ogden duplicated that feat with a double of his own that scored pinch runner Smith to tie the game 5-5. Schreyer was able to get the last out to end the inning.
Grapevine did not get off to a good start in the bottom half of the 7th getting a strikeout and fly out in their first 2 at-bats. With two outs, Kelley singled and Tatum walked to set up Boswell’s heroic’s. A balk moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd which drew the outfield in. On a 2-1 count, Boswell hit a hard shot that went over the centerfielder’s head, scoring Kelley and giving Grapevine the championship game win.
For his game-winning hit, Boswell was named the UIL 5A State Championship Game MVP. He was 2-4 with a double and 2 RBIs.
“I was hoping the guy in front of me would get on so I could get a shot,” Boswell described the moment. “I knew if he got on there would be a guy on second and I wanted to go up there and get us a hit. I just locked in to the pitcher, looked for my pitch and hit it hard. I didn’t know it was a hit until the ball drop below his glove. It was close the whole way so I had to pray he didn’t catch it.”
Lovejoy….0 0 3 0 0 0 2 – 5 7 2
Grapevine..4 0 0 1 0 0 1 – 6 9 0
