AHS ends 24-year baseball playoff drought

By LANCE FLEMING
Sports Writer

MIDLAND - The long wait is over for Abilene High.

The Eagles on Tuesday clinched their first berth in the state baseball playoffs in 24 seasons with a 7-5 win over Midland High at Christensen Stadium.

Abilene High also got a little help from Midland Lee, which beat Cooper to keep the Eagles' District 4-5A championship hopes alive.

The Rebels are now in first place at 9-3 in district and are through with district play. AHS and Cooper are tied for second, one-half game behind at 8-3.

If Abilene High and Cooper both win Friday (Cooper is at Odessa Permian and Abilene High is at home against Odessa High), there would be a three-way tie at the top of the district standings. That would force some sort of playoff between the three for the district title.

A two-way tie among any of the three would also force a playoff game to determine the district champion.

"It's kind of nice right now," AHS head coach Jim Reese said of his team's playoff-clinching win. "To put it mildly, our guys were doing a little smiling after it was over. They were pumped, but they still feel like they can win a district championship and that's our goal right now."

AHS pitcher John Dallies led the Eagles' effort, going the distance to run his record to 9-0 overall and 5-0 in district play. He struck out nine Bulldogs and walked just two to pick up the victory.

"John pitched well," Reese said. "They hit the ball pretty well, but John did a good job of battling back. He kind of let up a little bit in the middle innings, but he got a lot more intense in the last inning or two. We wanted him to finish it off and he did a good job."

Trailing 3-2 the Eagles got the game tied in the top of the fourth when Pascual Mirelez doubled to right to drive in Jacob Martinez.

Abilene High then went ahead to stay in the fourth, scoring three runs and taking advantage of a couple of Midland High errors.

With one out, John Lackey doubled to drive in John Michael Herrera. Chris Cortinaz then reached on a throwing error and Lackey went to third.

That's when things got interesting.

Cortinaz stole second, but Midland second baseman Chad Villarreal cut the ball and fired to the plate to try and get Lackey. Midland High catcher Jeff Perez then got Lackey in a rundown, but his throw back to third base went into left field, allowing both Lackey and Cortinaz to score to make it a 6-3 ballgame.

Midland High cut the lead to 6-5 in the bottom of the sixth, scoring two runs with two outs when Mirelez, Martinez, Herrera and Dallies let a popup drop between them. That misplay allowed Mike Carrasco and Villarreal to score.

"We misplayed that popup in the sixth, which hurt us, but we didn't let that get us down," Reese said. "We made some nice defensive plays to keep Midland off the board."
The Eagles got a big insurance run in the seventh when Cortinaz on an RBI groundout by Brad Cowling.

Dallies then set the Bulldogs down in order in the seventh to nail down the postseason berth and take the burden off the Eagles' backs.

"There's a weight off of us," Reese said. "But I think the guys were real positive before the game. The pressure of us not having been in the playoffs in a long time wasn't really an issue. These guys weren't even alive for most of that stretch. They're playing for 1996 and what we can do this season."