Perfection: Central Heights captures 3A state title

If you don’t give up any runs, you’re not going to lose.  After posting a 7-0 win over Whitesboro in the state semifinals on Wednesday, the Blue Devils backed up that performance with another dominating 10-0 shutout victory over Wall in 5 innings to capture the 3A state championship.

Cade Watson, one of four seniors on this Blue Devils roster, was named MVP for his performance at the plate, going 3-4 with 1 R and 3 RBI.

“When I stepped on the field today, I had one thing on my mind, and that was kill mode and being ready to roll,” said Watson.  “I did exactly what I dreamed of the night before.  I didn’t expect to get MVP because every guy on my team is an MVP.”

Central Heights scored all 10 of their runs in the opening three frames, with the big blow coming in the third with 7 runs.  That was more than enough for starting pitcher Rowan Arrant.

Arrant, which was also 2-3 from the plate, went the 5 innings, giving up just 2 hits, walking 2 and struck out 7 Hawk batters.

“He has been consistent all year long,” said Blue Devil head coach Travis Jackson.  “He fought through an injury at the end of district but came back strong.  We got him some rest and he came back and did an awesome job.  He did an awesome job all season.”

The state title is the first for the Blue Devils since the 2004 run.  Watson noted how big this title was for not only his team, but others around Nacogdoches.

“It’s a huge thing,” said Watson.  “Not only for the Central Heights community, but for all of Nacogdoches and East Texas.  Bringing back a state championship to East Texas is huge.  It’s all our combined dreams together and it’s our goal.  We didn’t think we were going to run-rule anyone, but we felt we would do our job.”

In the top of the first, Watson got his first hit with a single to right.  He was later brought in by Grayson Rodriguez’s single to right.  With the bases loaded in the second, Watson was up again and drove in two more with a ground ball single to left.

The game was well in hand after the third, as the Blue Devils exploded for 7 runs and a 10-0 lead.  A Matthew Taylor 2-RBI single, Will Haley 2-RBI single, Cole Reneau RBI double to right, Watson RBI triple, and Cade McCarty RBI single up the middle resulted in the runs.

It was a tough loss for a Hawk baseball program in their first ever trip to the state tournament.

“Central Heights is a great team and they did it all the way around from throwing strikes, to behind the plate, and at the plate they did more than enough,” said Wall head coach Jason Schniers.  “We tip our hats to those guys and they are deserving of a state championship.”

The experience should only benefit this Wall squad which has just a couple of seniors on the roster.

“It’s a new step for our program,” said Schniers.  “We had been to the regional final before and had not been able to knock that door down.  We did that and won a state semifinal game and I couldn’t be more proud of the way our kids competed all year long.  It would be nice to get one for ourselves, but the future of Wall is very bright and hopefully we can get back.”

For Coach Jackson and the Blue Devils, they are going to let this one soak in for some time before looking ahead.

“I’m going to enjoy this one for a while,” said Jackson.  “We will start up again in August.  You look ahead in the summer a little bit.  I have been down here three times and we finally broke through and got some wins, so it’s a proud moment.”

Jackson was the head coach at Overton in 2009 and 2011 in their state tournament bids.

Central Heights will be returning both Rodriguez and Arrant, which tossed a combined 12 scoreless innings in the two wins in Round Rock.

WP – Rowan Arrant (9-0)
LP – Caleb Heuertz (4-2)