Five long years: 'Cats beat Westwood to end playoff drought

The Mexia baseball team ended a five-year playoff drought with a 6-1 victory at Palestine Westwood on Friday, April 19.
The win improved Mexia's District 20-3A record to 8-5 and put them in a third-place tie with Fairfield with one game remaining. Westwood dropped to 7-6, one game behind Mexia. But the Blackcats hold the tiebreaker, having beaten Westwood in both their district meetings.
Senior four-year starter Hunter Murphy has been the ace of the Blackcat pitching staff since he stepped onto the field as a freshman. In the most important game of his career, Murphy gave a sterling performance.
The right-hander fired a four-hitter and allowed just one earned run. He walked two and struck out two in the 80-pitch, complete-game effort.
Mexia scored single runs in the second through fourth innings to take a 3-0 lead. Westwood scored its only run in the bottom of the fourth, but the Blackcats cemented the victory with three runs in the top of the sixth.
Murphy singled to lead off the sixth inning and Aaden Cargile drew a walk. Andres Venegas laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position.
An infield pop left both runners on base with two outs. Leadoff batter Keydren Majors laced a triple to left field scoring both runners. Majors came home on a single by Anthony Schaff.
Schaff had two of Mexia's eight hits. Cargile walked twice and scored two runs. Adriano Mendoza had a double and scored a run.
The Blackcats were scheduled to finish their regular season Tuesday at home against state-ranked district champion Franklin. And then it's on to the postseason for the first time since 2019.