Trinity Christian-Addison Rides Hot Start to Win in Division I Semifinal Game

 admin  |    May 17th, 2023

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		1	2	3	4	5	6	7		R	H	E
Trinity Christian	.	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	.	4	8	2
Concordia Lutheran	.	2	0	0	6	0	0	1	.	3	6	1

Trinity Christian-Addison started off the game with hot bats, getting 5 singles and scoring 3 runs in the first inning.  They held on to upset top ranked Concordia Lutheran 4-3 in a thriller to advance to the TAPPS Division I State Championship Game.  Trinity Christian-Addison will meet St Thomas Catholic in the State Title Game on Wednesday at 12:00 PM.

Steven Ramos led off the game with a single for Trinity Christian.  With one out Samuel Jenkins singled.  Ajay Goluguri followed with a single, scoring Ramos.  Then William Lehman singled scoring Jenkins.  Abe Woods laced the 4^th base hit in a row to left field, scoring Goluguri.  A double play finally ended the TCA threat but not before the Trojans had picked up three runs.

Concordia Lutheran, however, responded with 2 runs of their own, but on just 1 hit.  Walks to Cole Lanclos and Nolan Traeger set up Eoghan Collins RBI single scoring Lanclos and getting Concordia on the board.  Douglas Pieri walked to load the bases and Michael Herndon scored Traeger on a sacrifice fly to cut Trinity Christian’s lead to 3-2.

Trinity Christian kept the hot bats going and picked up another run in the top of the 2^nd.  Daniel Richardson started off the inning with a single.  And with one out Ramos hit his second single of the night.  Behrman attempted to steal third on the next pitch and the throw sailed over the third baseman’s head allowing Behrman to score.  TCA led 4-2.

After the first inning and a half, runs were hard to come by.  In particular, Trinity Christian Addison starting pitcher Hayden Heflin managed to keep Concordia Lutheran from getting solid contact on the ball.  At one point he got 10 outs in a row.

Concordia Lutheran had a couple of chances at the end.  They loaded the bases in the 6^th inning with one out before relief pitcher Andrew Yates got a strike out and ground out.   Concordia Lutheran did pick up a run in the 7^th when Traeger scored on a throwing error.  Yates got a ground out on the next batter to end the game and secure the victory for TCA.

Winning Pitcher Heflin pitched 5.1 innings, gave up 2 runs on 3 hits and 5 walks against the stout Concordia lineup.  He was named the THSB Player of the Game.

“We brought some energy tonight. Our bats were hot.” Heflin explained. “It’s easy to pitch when you’re on the mound with a team as good as we have.”   On his effectiveness on the mound:  “I have my sinker and a lot of them were popping it up.  They were not able to barrel it up very well so that was my pitch to go to.”

TCA Head Coach Pat Leach commented on his team: “These guys knew they could win.  They’ve really been playing well the last month of the season, doing the little things right, being good teammates and just playing the game the right way.  It’s neat to sit back and watch them play.”  On the hot start:  “We were wanting to be more aggressive tonight.  Those guys throw strikes.  So we wanted to go up there and go early in the count and they did a good job of that.”

THSB Player of the Game – Hayden Heflin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Tim Baugh