Head coach Travis Yoder knew if his Highland Park baseball team was going to make a run to state, second-round opponent Melissa would be among the biggest hurdles.
That proved to be the case in a Class 5A Division 1 area-round series swept in two tightly-contested games by the Cardinals.
Melissa (ranked No. 8 in the area by The Dallas Morning News) punched its ticket to the area round on the road Friday by picking up a 3-1 victory after taking Game 1 at home Thursday, 6-5.
The Cardinals never trailed in the clinching win, scoring once in the top of the first inning off Highland Park starter Ryan Donahoe, before tacking on two more and chasing Donahoe in the top of the third.
Melissa starter Cullen Scott, meanwhile, carried a shutout into the bottom of the sixth inning with 10 strikeouts before giving way to Sean James, who was able to get out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam by getting a double play on a liner off the bat of Charles Brewer.
HP did manage to get on the board in the bottom of the seventh courtesy of a towering homer to right field by Cole Flashnick, but James retired Adam Richey on a deep flyout to center to send the Cardinals to the second round.
“[Scott is] really good,” Yoder said. “We knew we had our hands full if he was in the zone, and he happened to be in the zone.
“He’s hard to hit, but we thought if we could get his count up and get to another pitcher, we’d have a chance. And we had a chance in the sixth with the bases loaded.”
HP’s best scoring chance prior to the sixth came in the bottom of the first when Richey walked and Martin True was hit by a pitch, but Scott got a strikeout to end the inning.
While Scott pitched deep in the game for Melissa, Cash Wright did his best to keep the Scots within striking distance.
The sophomore limited the damage to two runs in the third and kept Melissa off the scoreboard the rest of the way, finishing with three strikeouts.
“[Donahoe] was coming off an injury and we knew we had a short string on him,” Yoder said. “Once we saw he was struggling a little, we put Cash right in there. He hasn’t pitched a ton, but he’s a kid that steps up. We got six innings out of him, it was a great job.”
But HP could manage just a two-out single from Charlie Flint outside of Flashnick’s seventh-inning homer, loading the bases in the sixth off an error, walk, and hit-by-pitch before Brewer’s liner went right at Melissa shortstop Cam Defury, who snared it and went to second base unassisted to end the threat.
“We’ve just run into a little bad luck the last couple games,” Yoder said. “Last night, we fought hard just like these kids have done all year and tied it back up. And then we took a lead and thought we had them, it was just a couple bad bounces here and there. That’s tough.”
Still, it was a strong season for an HP team that battled injury yet managed to finish 24-11 and shared the District 12-5A title with The Colony.
“It was a really good year,” Yoder said. “These guys have fought hard and are a special group and are bonded with friendship for the rest of their life. You want to see them keep going. And I thought these guys had it, but we had a couple things pop up that didn’t go our way.”
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