Two schools that are accustomed to playing in big games in the month of May will collide with their seasons at stake today.
Parkers Chapel (21-7), the No. 2 seed from the 8-2A, takes on Dierks (12-3), the No. 3 seed from the 7-2A in the opening round of the 2A South Regional Tournament.
Game time is set for 5:30 p.m. from Horatio.
The last time the schools met in the regional tournament was in 2014 when the Trojans downed the Outlaws 4-0 behind a three-run homer by John Tyson with Eric White throwing a four-hit shutout.
If there is one thing that immediately jumps out as far as differences between the schools, it’s the number of games played, but that is due to the Outlaws’ basketball team making a run in the state tournament and not starting their season until March 19, which was seven weeks ago.
“They’ve been a baseball school for a long time,” Parkers Chapel coach Mark Looney said. “They’re always going to put a good product out there. They’re always going to win multiple games, whether it’s 20 games or whatever. The last couple of years, they’ve done so well in basketball that they’ve gotten their baseball season started a little bit late, which when you get started late, you’re missing five, six, seven, eight, nine ballgames in the first couple weeks of the season, They haven’t played as many games as they normally do in the past because of their success in basketball. It took them a little while to get cranked up.”
Looney has plenty of respect for the Outlaws and the success they have had through the years.
“They’ve been to a couple of state finals in the past, and we’ve met in the state tournament in the semifinals, the finals of the regional,” Looney said. “In the 25 years that I’ve been here, they’ve always made the regional tournament. They’ve always been a hard out or they’ll put you out.
“Everybody to this point of the season, all eight teams there, they can play some baseball. Baseball is a funny game sometimes. You get on a roll with momentum or in the opposite direction, you boot a couple and you look up and the game is over with and your season is over.
“You’ve got to take advantage of any mistakes that the other team gives you, you hopefully get some timely hits with runners in scoring position and you hope your pitcher throws strikes. From the coaching side, that’s all you can ask for and hope for.”
The Outlaws fell to Horatio in the district tournament to finish with the No. 3 seed, but their offense has scored more than 10 runs in seven of their wins this year.
The Trojans are also likely to see sophomore Rylan Hill, who has befuddled hitters with his breaking ball.
“He loves to throw the curveball, so we better practice hitting some curveballs,” Looney said.
The Trojans entered the 8-2A District Tournament with their spot in the regional locked up thanks to finishing second in the conference in the regular season.
Parkers Chapel topped Hampton 7-0 behind Trace Shoup’s one-hitter in the semifinals, but fell to Woodlawn 10-4 in the championship game.
“I thought we played OK defensively both nights,” Looney said. “Not any complaints on the defensive side. We took care of business Friday against Hampton and did what we had to do. Shoup did a good job on the mound. We fell behind Saturday to Woodlawn. In the second inning, we had a chance to do some damage.
“We cut it to 3-1 and had the bases loaded and only had one out. A couple of base hits right there and we take the lead, but their pitcher did a good job and struck out two in a row and got out of a jam.
“I don’t know if that busted our bubble or hurt our feelings or whatever, but it took us a couple of more innings to wake up from that. We didn’t get enough hits in key situations. We stranded too many runners on base.
“You can’t do that. I told the kids after the game, ‘Sometimes you just got to tip your cap.’ They outplayed us. No excuses.
“We didn’t beat ourselves with errors. Most of the runs they got, they earned. They outhit us that day two to one. They just played better than we did. What can you say to that? The other team did a better job on that particular day. My hope is that we get a chance to play them two more times. That would be wonderful.”
If the Trojans are to advance to the state tournament, Looney said his team must do several things.
“My pitcher has got to throw strikes, we’ve got to play defense behind him and we’ve got to get some hits,” Looney said. “We’ve got to string some hits together. They can’t be scattered. We need to score a few runs. If we get a few runs, get the momentum going, I think we’ll be in good shape.”