Sweetwater baseball has secured its spot atop District 3-2A for the time being.
The Wildcats — winning their 20th game of the season — clinched the top seed in the upcoming district tournament.
“I think the guys can relax a little bit knowing that they have it. Not to take anything off, but now they know where they are playing and stay on a routine.” Sweetwater coach Travis Watson said.
The Wildcats (20-4; 9-0) had to grit their teeth to find a win at Kingston on Monday, though. The host Yellow Jackets put together a rally in the sixth inning.
Facing Kingston’s No. 2 in the lineup, Sweetwater’s defense found two leadoff outs but two singles added pressure. The Yellow Jackets pulled within one run off a Blake Hester two-RBI hit.
“I was thinking they had the top of the lineup coming up. We got the first two out and that was crucial. Kai (Correll) still had good stuff, but they flipped two singles on him,” Watson said. “We trust Kai and he still had good stuff. We were going to let him finish the sixth if possible. But (when they got a single) it was time to go to (Jayden) Richesin.”
Richesin stepped onto the mound, forcing a first-pitch fielder’s choice one runner on.
Richesin secured the win with one strikeout and two groundouts on six pitches in the seventh inning.
“It is a different look. He kind of throws from the side. They have not seen it the whole game and it changes your approach,” Watson added. “That makes it a little more difficult when you probably have not seen a guy throw like that a lot this year.
“He throws a ton of strikes and has a good defense behind him. He knows how to pitch and he knows how to get you out.”
Sweetwater’s defense flexed its strengths across the diamond, creating 19 putouts on the road.
“I think they won just about every play. There were tons of ground ball outs and several balls on the left side on the ground. The field was very hard — it felt like it had not been watered in a month,” Watson said. “It was a tough place to play already, especially with the field and the sun. We had to make (19) outs in that game by your defense.”
A successful pickoff in the bottom of the third negated Kingston’s one out single. The Yellow Jackets were held to four batters or less in five innings.
Cade Houser led Sweetwater’s offense with two RBIs on two hits — the only Wildcat to notch multiple numbers in both categories.
Houser opened the scoring in the top of the first when his single to center field brought home Tucker Lorenz and Correll.
“Cade is usually Cade. He gets in there and battles, he sees a lot of pitches. He is a good mistake hitter and he is all about whatever it takes for the team,” Watson said. “If you need him to bunt, he will bunt. If he needs to hit-and-run he will, even though he is in the clean-up spot. He does not ask questions, he just goes and gets it done.”
Houser singled with one out in the third inning. Houser advanced to second off an error put in play by Nolan Dacus that scored Correll.
Sweetwater’s third run came in the first inning barrage.
With two outs, Richesin knocked a ball into play, reaching on an error and scoring Houser.
Blaine Watson led the fourth inning off with a left field single, but Kingston turned a double play to slow the momentum. Dacus’ double two batters later was Sweetwater’s final hit of the contest.
With the top-seed clinched, Sweetwater will host all games outside the league’s single-game play-in round between the bottom four seeds.
Sweetwater — and the eventual second seed — will automatically advance into a four-team double-elimination tournament.
The Wildcats will avoid the single-elimination play-in round played at the higher seed. Sweetwater trailed in that game a year ago before going on to win the District 3-2A and Region 2-2A tournaments and reaching the Class 2A semifinals.
The tournament is scheduled to start with the play-in games on May 1 and the initial championship game on May 6.
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