BASEBALL: Lions’ season ends in tiebreaker playoff game
Cy Griebel escapes a rundown at third. Miles Smith/LPR
LPR Staff Report
The Lockhart Lions fell 6-4 Monday night in a one-game playoff with Austin Crockett for the final playoff berth in District 25-5A.
The Lions, who finished in fifth place, faced a five-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh inning before mounting a heroic comeback, scoring three runs to narrowly miss breaking a 26-year playoff drought.
“This year we were a young and inexperienced team with three returning starters. We showed lots of improvement from the start of the season through last night,” said head coach Trey Honeycutt. “The boys fought to the end and I am proud of the fact that we did not quit. Several errors and mental mistakes cost us the game. In a do or die game you can’t afford to make those kind of mistakes.
“The boys have a little taste of what postseason action is like now and they now have some experience moving forward. I believe 1992 was the last time we’ve reached a tiebreaker playoff game for playoffs. Lockhart was tri-district champions and they only took the top two teams to the playoffs back then.
“So we are glad to do something that hasn’t been done since that period of time. We will continue to work hard and learn some tough lessons from this past season. We really appreciated the community and fan support throughout the season. The energy was exciting and despite losing the tie breaker game the environment was great.”
Lions starting pitcher Logan Hersom went 6 2/3 innings for the Lions, striking out seven batters.
Cy Griebel led the Lions’ effort on offense, going 3-for-3 with an RBI and a double. Jackie Edwards, Jesus Garcia, Logan Crowell and Giovani Roque each recorded hits for the Lions.
The Lions went into their final two games of the season needing to win one of two games against LBJ to clinch fourth place and a playoff spot and avoid the tiebreaking game with Crockett.
In the end, LBJ went 2-0 against the Lions, beating them 3-1 on their home turf and 5-2 in Lockhart.
The Lions were scoreless heading into the bottom of the seventh against LBJ in their regular season finale before mounting a two-run rally.
The Lions scored on runs by Nick Ortiz and Cy Griebel, who went 3-for-3 at bat, hitting a double.
Mason Welvaert recorded the game’s only RBI on a fielder’s choice.
