While U Were Sleeping…Spring Branch Memorial and Katy Taylor Were Playing Baseball

 admin  |    May 19th, 2015

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It was a long weekend with little sleep for the players, coaches, parents and fans of the Spring Branch Memorial Mustangs and Katy Taylor Mustangs. Weather played havoc with the playoffs, particularly in the Houston area, and many teams were scrambling to find dry fields. For Memorial and Taylor, rain and extra inning games led to a wild 2 days of baseball, including playing the final game while most of the state was in bed sleeping.

Here is the timeline from Thursday afternoon to early Saturday morning as told by Memorial Head Coach Jeremy York

Thursday, May 14

Early Afternoon – Katy Taylor Head Coach Cory Bowyer calls Coach York to let him know that because of the recent rains, the Katy Taylor field would not be ready to host Game 1 of their playoff series. Neither was the Memorial field. They secured the baseball field in Sweeny, south of Houston and an hour and a half away, for a 7 PM game.

7:00 PM – Game 1 Spring Branch Memorial v Katy Taylor.  Taylor takes a 1-0 lead into the 7th inning. In the top of the 7th, Memorial Catcher Justin Collins hits one over the left field fence to tie the game 1-1. Memorial then holds Taylor to send the game to extra innings. In the top of the 9th, SS Kody Clemens doubles and Collins singles to left field, scoring Clemens and giving Memorial a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the 9th, Taylor loads the bases but a 2 out fly out ends the threat and Memorial wins a dramatic Game 1. The game ends after 10:30 with the 2 extra innings. For Memorial, by the time they got on the bus, fed the kids and arrived back at the school, it was 1:30 am. Unfortunately, Coach York and his coaches and players had to go out and pull the tarps off of their field so that the fields could begin drying for Game 2 of their series. They got home after 2 AM.

Friday, May 15

2:00 PM – Storms come through Houston area and once again, both the Memorial and Taylor fields were too wet to host games. And once again, the coaches contacted Sweeny. There were several games already scheduled there but they were able to secure a 10:30 PM start.

6:00 PM – Sweeny officials call and let the Coaches know that they had a weather delay there in Sweeny and their game would start sometime after midnight. Coach York takes a chance and calls Baseball USA officials about the possibility of playing on their field late. The officials agreed to let them play 30 minutes after the 7:30 Houston Westside/Cy Fair game, a likely 10:30-11:00 PM start.

9:00 PM – Memorial and Taylor teams arrive at Baseball USA to get ready for Game 2 of their series. As they await the end of the Westside/Cy Fair game, they watch Cy Fair score 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th to tie the game at 5-5. 3 innings later, at 12:10 am, Cy Fair scores in the bottom of the 10th for the win.

Saturday, May 15

12:45 AM – Memorial/Taylor Game 2 finally begins after midnight. Ironically, with such a late start, the game itself was a long drawn out affair in what Coach York would call “one of the sloppiest playoff games I have seen in a while.” Blame it on the lack of sleep the night before or the late hour start, it was indeed a sloppy game. In Game 2, there were 4 errors, 20 walks, 2 Hit Batters, 9 pitching changes, and 22 runs scored. Memorial came out ahead with a 14-8 win, wrapping up the series in 2 games. The game ended at 4:33 AM! Yes….4:33 AM!

6:15 AM – Coach York stops at Shipley’s on the way home to pick up donuts for his son who would wake up soon.

6:30 AM – Coach York finally pulls up in his driveway.

Follow Up Quotes from Coach York

“In hindsight, we should have waited until later Saturday to play. But we were already there – players, coaches, parents and fans.  And who would have thought that it would have taken nearly 4 hours to play the game?”

“I told my players that we would not start another game after midnight this year!”

“I haven’t stayed up all night in a long, long time. I still have not recovered.”

It was a wild weekend of baseball and for two teams, they will never forget the night they played baseball while most of the state was in bed sleeping.
Memorial Players Wait for End of Cy Fair/Westside Game