Seven Lakes caps seemingly endless game with stunning rally
ANGLETON — It started at 12:55 p.m. Saturday in Katy.
Cypress Ranch and Seven Lakes played for three hours at Seven Lakes before the horn signaling the first lightning delay sounded with Game 2 of their area playoff tied at 3 in the ninth inning.
They waited, and waited, nearly two hours as lightning flashed. And then came the rain.
So, after 2½ hours, the teams decided to relocate the series 60miles southeast to Angle ton, where play was set to resume at 8:30 p.m. — and then the lightning found them again, pushing the restart to 9:15 p.m.
The game kept going, and going, from there — remaining tied through 12 innings.
Finally, Marshall Skin- ner put Cypress Ranch up with a three-run double in the top of the 13th inning, only to see Seven Lakes score four in the bottom to walk off with a 7-6 victory, forcing a Game 3 that began later Saturday night.
Total time elapsed for Game 2 — 9 hours, 59 min- utes.
“Our guys have been coming back all year long,” Seven Lakes coach J.R. Voyles said. “They don’t get worried when they’re down.”
The Spartans had plenty of reason to worry.
The Mustangs won 10-5 on Friday, so if they weren’t able to finish Game2, the series, most likely, by University Interscholastic League rule, would have reverted to a one-gameplayoff, with the Mustangs advancing.
That was on Voyles’ mind as the two teams scrambled to find a way to continue Game 2.
“It’s a helpless feeling,” Voyles said. “I can’t do anything. I’m stuck, and it’s raining everywhere. It’s been hectic.”
Seven Lakes started the Game 2 marathon with a seventh-inning rally.
Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Lamar Sparks tripled and scored on a single by No. 9 batter Matthew Zuniga.
That’s where the score remained until the 13th.
Skinner’s three-run double for a 6-3 Cy Ranch lead came off Chris Parsons, the sixth pitcher for the Spartans.
But the Spartans weren’t ready to concede their season.
Bryan Sturges led the home 13th with a double, Hunter Parker was hit by a pitch and Max Mize walked to load the bases. Sparks then hit a run-scoring single, Alick Arnold and Zuniga drew bases-loaded walks to tie it 6-6, and Conner Capel sent an RBIsingle to right.
“Clutch,” Voyles said of Capel. “He’s the leader of the team. Everybody looks to him, so him doing that sets the tone for (Game 3).”