Title secured, Eagles pivot to playoffs
With fourth league title in five years under belt, Atascocita focuses on postseason
Atascocita is No. 1 again. The Eagles baseball team clinched their fourth district championship in five years and a top playoff seed by beating rival Kingwood in a thriller, winning 5-4 with a run in the seventh inning Friday.
“They were excited,” coach Craig Matthews said.
“They knew what was on the line and what that game meant, and to be able to pull it out in the bottom of the seventh was great.”
The win sent them to 10-1 in District 16-6A, with one game left Tuesday against Conroe.
The Eagles were 19-6-1 overall.
They finished third in district last year after winning 31 games and reaching their first state tournament in 2014.
Matthews said they knew going in this year they had the pieces to make another title run.
But first they had to find the right combinations, which meant taking a few lumps against top teams early on.
“We had the ability,” he said.
“The only unknown was the fact that a lot of the guys we have this year were new to the varsity.
“We had some returners but we lost 19 to graduation last year.”
The key to their success is their willingness to compete, play hard and do whatever it takes to win every time out.
“We’ve won games a lot of different ways,” Matthews said. “Sometimes we’ve had to swing it a little bit in order to win (and) sometimes we’ve had to pitch a little bit in order to win. We’ve won some tight, low-scoring games, and we’ve won a few high-scoring, back-and-forth games. It depends on the day.”
The only days Matthews remembers are the bad ones.
As with most coaches, it’s easier to recount the losses than the wins as they struggle to improve.
Atascocita dropped games to Seven Lakes, Baytown Sterling and Tomball Memorial.
A 14-4 loss to Pearland on March 5 still stings.
“That gave us a wake-up call, in that, if you want to compete with good teams, this is what it’s going to take,” Matthews said.
The Eagles finished strong in non-district, then went undefeated the first round of 16-6A play.
They didn’t suffer their first district setback until falling 3-1 to The Woodlands in the second round two weeks ago.
“We didn’t swing it,” Matthews said. “We didn’t make very good adjustments at the plate. Their pitchers threw the ball well but we didn’t make the necessary adjustments, and then we had one bad inning defensively and it cost us.”
They made the opposition pay down the stretch, with three straight wins up to this week.
Key players include junior pitchers Alden Blest and Jonathan Petsch, junior shortstop Alerick Soularie and senior first baseman Adam Petersen.
But Matthews said everyone is contributing to their success.
“This definitely, more than any other year, has been one of the most collective efforts I’ve seen in a while,” he said. “We’ve got guys who understand what they’re capable of doing, do their job and trust their teammates to do theirs.”
The pitching staff also includes senior P/center fielder Matt Willrodt.
“We don’t have any one kind who’s just absolutely overpowering,” Matthews said. “But they’re going to throw strikes and give us a chance to win, and that’s really all you can ask for in a pitcher.”
Petersen, who came off the bench last season, bats cleanup. He’s a key RBI producer, along with Willrodt.
Soularie is the leadoff hitter.
The playoffs begin next week, with Atascocita looking to put last year’s first-round exit in the rearview mirror.
“We want to try to get a little bit better every day that we step on the field,” Matthews said. “We’ve got to continue to get better, and the ultimate is goal is that we continue to get better all the way to June.”