Valley Mills wins the 2022 2A State Championship

 admin  |    Jun 9th, 2022

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Two more teams that are no stranger to the big stage.  Shiner was making a repeat trip to Round Rock.  While the Valley Mills Eagles were last here in 2019.  Only one would leave with the coveted Gold Medal.  Valley Mills would throw Cooper Ewing.  Cooper threw 19 pitches in the State Semi Final game.   Shiner would throw Drew Wenske.  Elandis Taylor and Bryce Nereda would be behind the plate for their respective programs.

Drew Wenske would look sharp to start the game with 2 strikeouts and a groundout.  Ryan Peterson would ensure there would not be a no hitter as he singled to start the game.  Cooper Ewing quickly erased that single, picking him off at first.  Ewing would get a fly out to center but walk Kennan Hailey.  A nice breaking pitch would put the Eagles back at bat.

Despite a double by Kenneth McLane, the Eagles could not plate anyone in the top of the second.  Shiner would get the scoring started after Bryce Filip walked then advanced to third compliments of an error on a pickoff attempt and a wild pitch.  Carson Schuette is credited with an RBI when he drove in Filip on a groundout to second.  Two ground ball outs would end the inning.

Valley Mills bats would get hot in the top of the third.   Elandis Taylor would single with 1 out.  Eli McNair would be hit by a pitch.  A single by Cason Johnson would tie the game.  Kaleb Kuligowski would smash a triple to right center scoring McNair and Johnson.   Thomas Perez would also be hit by a pitch.  Despite getting Perez on a steal, Valley Mills could not do any more damage.  Ewing got the shutdown inning he needed despite giving up a single to Wenske.

In the 4^th, the Eagles would continue to put pressure on Comanche pitching.  Ewing would single to start off the inning.  The pinch runner would be thrown out at second trying to steal.  Wenske would get Montgomery to go down looking.  The damage would come after Elandis Taylor’s second single of the day and error on the third baseman to move him to 3^rd.  Cason Johnson would get his second hit and second RBI of the day on an infield single.  At the midpoint of the 4^th, it was 4-1 in favor of the Eagles.  Ewing would get another shut down inning on a fly out and two strikeouts.

In the 5^th, Shiner would get two quick outs but then two singles would put runners on first and second.  Jarrett Pankonien would come in to pinch hit but could not score Richardson from second.  Pankonien grounded out to second.  Kaleb Kuligowski would come in to pitch for the Eagles.  Shiner tried to threaten when they singled to start the inning.  In an attempted bunt, the batter was out of the box giving the Eagles a free out.  Kaleb would hit the nine-hole batter then get Peterson to fly out to left field but walk the next batter to load the bases.  But a strikeout looking to end the inning would end the threat.

Valley could not muster any offense it the top of the 6^th despite 2 walks by Shiner pitching.  AJ Patek would start off the bottom of the 6^th with a walk for Shiner.  AJ Patek would start of the bottom of the 6^th with a walk.  A strikeout and an out at second on a fielder’s choice would put 2 outs in the books with a runner on second.  Bryce Filip would move up to second on a wild pitch.  That would be as far as he got as the next batter would fly out to second.

Valley Mills would flyout to left, then fly out to third and ground out to third in the top of the 7th.  Cooper Ewing would take the mound back for the Eagles to try and record the final 3 outs.  A leadoff single by pinch hitter Kaiden Boothe would eventually score but that was all the offense Shiner could generate.  Valley Mills would get a strikeout swinging to end the game and win the 2022 2A State Baseball Championship.
WP – Cooper Ewing
LP –  Drew Wenske

Player of the Game:   Cooper Ewing

Score by Innings	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Valley Mills	0	0	3	1	0	0	0	4	9	2
Shiner	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	4	3
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