Kingwood Mustangs 11, North Shore Mustangs 0  - April 28, 2023 @ Andy Wells Field

With just one more district game on the schedule, Kingwood entered the "White Out" game having already clinched the District Championship with their win Tuesday and Atascocita's loss to Summer Creek.  Trying to keep the momentum going into playoffs next week, David Ward got the ball for the Mustangs while Austin Erebia did for North Shore.

Playing in front of another big crowd, Ward retired North Shore's leadoff hitter with a high pop up to Braelon Richardson at short.  After a single up the middle gave the red Mustangs their first base runner, a ball that went off the right fielders glove gave them runners in scoring position with only one out.  Forced to buckle down, Ward got a strikeout looking and a soft liner to Richardson to end the early threat.  Kingwood had a similar inning where they had base traffic but ended up without anything to show for it.  Richardson walked but was picked off.  Caden Wellmann walked and moved to second on Josh Arquette's single.  Both runners moved up on a wild pitch but a groundout to third closed out the inning and kep the game scoreless.

North Shore started the second inning with a line drive single to center and a sac bunt moving him to second.  Ward's second strikeout and a walk put two runners on but a grounder to Arquette at third allowed a tag of the runner to end things there.  Ty Boatright led off Kingwood's half with a walk and advanced on Sammy Soto's hit just behind third base.  Both runners moved up when Liam O'Leary dropped down a sac bunt that the pitcher fielded and threw to first.  On the play though, the first baseman dropped the throw and as the ball rolled away, Boatright scored and Soto raced into third.  Dylan Key then entered as a courtesy runner for O'Leary.  Caden Callaway dropped a perfect bunt down the third base line to plate Soto and move Key to second.  A double steal by Key and Callaway put them both in scoring position before a walk to Brian Schumacher loaded the bases.  After a pitching change, Richardson was hit by a pitch, forcing in Key and moving all other runners ninety feet.  Arquette reached on a grounder to second when the throw to first base pulled him off the bag.  Callaway scored on the play and everyone again moved up ninety feet, leaving the bases loaded.  Braden Fuentes grounded to third, allowing Schumacher to score to give the Mustangs a 5-0 lead before a fly out to center ended the inning.

North Shore's lead off hitter in the third banged a ball high off the left centerfield wall but didn't run it out and ended up with a long single.  A walk, strikeout and hit by pitch gave the red Mustangs their best chance to score with bases loaded and one out.  But Ward induced a ground ball to short that Richardson flipped over to Wellmann and then to Soto for a 4-6-3, inning ending double play, keeping the shutout intact.  Soto led off the bottom half with a single through the hole on the right side.  Soto stole second before O'Leary was hit by a pitch.  Key again entered as a courtesy runner.  A walk to Callaway loaded the bases, prompting another pitching change for North Shore.  Schumacher welcomed him with a triple over the centerfielder to clear the bases and give Kingwood an 8-0 lead.  Richardson's infield singled to shortstop, despite a drawn in infield, scored Schumacher.  Richardson stole second, moved to third by tagging up on Wellmann's fly ball to right, and scored on a wild pitch to put the blue Mustangs up 10-0.  Fuentes got an infield single to deep short but was stranded there.

In the fourth, Kingwood made some defensive substitutions behind Ward.  John Hebert took over at first.  Ryan Beideck entered at shortstop.  Dylan Key went to third.  Matthew Estes was in left field and Logan Eckert manned right field.  After the lead off hitter struck out swinging and O'Leary tagged him out, Ian Carlson entered the game at second base.  Another Ward strikeout, a walk and a fly ball to Boatright in center, moved the contest to the bottom of the fourth.  Hebert led off with a deep home run to right field, pushing the score to 11-0.  O'Leary singled up the middle and stayed in to run the bases, moving to second on an Estes walk.  Eckert hit into a fielder's choice, with North Shore getting an out at second on the play.  With runners on the corners, the next two hitters were retired, leaving Kingwood with the eleven run lead.

Down to the last three outs of their season, North Shore was hoping to make a miraculous comeback to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.  Logan Harris entered the game on the mound to try closing things out.  The first hitter lofted a deep fly ball to center that Boatright tracked down for the first out.  A single up the middle, just off the glove of a diving Carlson, gave North Shore a baserunner but only for a brief moment as the runner tried to hustle into second for a double.  Instead, he was thrown out at second and the red Mustangs were down to their last chance.  A walk prolonged things temporarily but a strikeout swinging ended the game and their season, giving Kingwood an 11-0 victory.

In the win, Ward posted four strikeouts.  Harris got one of his own in his inning.

The first place Mustangs finish 13-1 in District play and have  now won 12 straight games and 16 of their last 17 overall. 

The playoffs start next week and as of now, unofficially it looks like it could be against Channelview.

Kingwood Mustangs
Overall record:   22-7-3
District record:   13-1