On Friday one bad inning undid some of the good Westlake had done in district play, but the Chaps rebounded and showed their consistency and fortuity in a win Saturday over Cedar Park.
Aaron Black had the game-winning RBI in the top of the seventh inning to score Carson Spencer (running for Frankie Hernandez) to make the final 4-3 score on a night where Westlake got back to sound defense and pitching for seven innings.
The night before, the Chaps lost 5-3 to Austin High as the Maroons scored five runs in one sloppy inning.
“We played a very, very clean game and I was very pleased with the way we played Saturday,” coach Jim Darilek said. “We had a talk about doing fundamental things right (after Friday’s loss) and I thought we played a very good game against a very good team.”
Gordy Taylor got the start and went three innings against Cedar Park, with Tate Shaw going the next three frames and Ryan Cunningham closing the door in the seventh inning.
Daniel Gremaud, Lewis Guilbeau and Carson Viglione knocked in the other three Westlake runs.
“We had a bunch of people contribute, had real solid defense and three guys throw and all three of them threw very well,” Darilek said.
Darilek said that the one fateful inning against Austin High just a product of inconsistency that crops up throughout the course of a high school season.
“They’re a good bunch of guys,” Darilek said. “The bottom line is we had a bad inning where we didn’t function and gave the game away. Except that one half of a defensive inning we played a real nice game (against Austin High) … But that’s baseball, that happens.”
With the loss to Austin High, Westlake sits in a three-way tie for second place at 8-4 with Bowie and the Maroons, with Anderson all but sewing up the top seed.
The Chaps have a 2-1 series edge on Austin High, and are tied 1-1 with Bowie.
As of Monday Anderson sat in first place at 10-2, with Westlake, Bowie and Austin High all at 8-4 one more week of play next week (and one game before press time on April 17). All four playoff spots have been secured, as Akins (2-10) cannot get to eight wins.
Westlake faces Akins 7:30 p.m. Friday at Burger Field. After a nondistrict game at Smithson Valley 1 p.m. Saturday, the Chaps close out the regular season in the district finale against Bowie, set for 7 p.m. April 27 at Westlake.