Corpus Christi London edges Lago Vista out of baseball playoffs

JOURDANTON — For one long, excruciating moment, the cheering stopped, and the anxiety grew as Corpus Christi London batter Blake Watters and the packed stands awaited the umpire’s call.

Then the umpire slowly signaled a ball as Watters hustled to first base with the bases-loaded, winning RBI in the bottom of the eighth inning against Lago Vista. The London dugout quickly emptied, mobbing Watters and Henry Sepulveda, who scored the winning run, while celebrating a wild 7-6 finish that sent the Pirates back to the Class 3A Region IV finals for the second consecutive season.

“I was hoping to swing the bat, but blue (the umpire) waited a little bit to see if it was a strike,” said Watters, a sophomore who helped London reach last year’s title game. “Then he just kind of looked at me for a second and said, ‘That’s ball four, take your base.'“

The sudden ending stunned Lago Vista coach Cody Walker and the Vikings, who fell behind 5-0 by the end of the third inning but rallied to take a 6-5 lead into the seventh. Walker showed as good of judgement when discussing the called ball after the wrenching loss as he did during the Vikings’ best playoff run during his four seasons as Lago Vista’s head coach.

“I don’t want to make a comment on that, to be honest with you,” he said, referring to the pitch by reliever Colby Fowler that skirted the outside of the plate. “It was a tough way to lose, I will say that.”

More: Timely hitting, solid pitching push Georgetown past Ray in UIL baseball playoffs

Sepulveda, who led off the bottom of the eighth with a single down the third-base line, fittingly accounted for the winning run. Sepulveda had kept the game alive in the bottom of the seventh when he dove for first base on an infield single and earned the safe call, much to the chagrin of Walker. He then scored on a double into left field by Jacob Gonzales that tied the game at 6-6 and forced extra innings in the second game of the best-of-three regional semifinal series.

“We told our kids that this will prepare us for what we’re fixing to see in the next round,” said Kevin Carr, one of London’s co-head coaches. “And if we’re fortunate enough to get back to the state tournament, the pressure will feel like this. Anytime you play in these moments, we feel like we grow from them and become bigger and better.”

London’s lead certainly looked big enough by the end of the third inning, when the Pirates seized a 5-0 advantage and had Texas A&M pledge Blayne Lyne, a sophomore, on the mound.

But Lago Vista (18-9-2) showed the grit that propelled the team into the regional semifinals. The Vikings scored two in the fifth inning on a double by Mikey D' Ambrose that chased Lyne from the game and took a 6-5 lead in the sixth thanks to some fielding miscues by London (22-12).

More: Georgetown sweeps Corpus Christi Ray in regional semis

“This team is a group of kids who just don’t ever stop fighting,” Walker said. “Even though we were down 5-0, I knew that we weren’t out. We stranded some runners early, and we needed one big hit, and we got that big hit late. We should have won that game, but it doesn’t bounce your way sometimes.”

Even though his team won the first game of the series 8-0 on Friday, Carr knew his Pirates would have to survive a matinee battle on an artificial turf where temperatures soared well above 100 degrees.

“We knew this team (Lago Vista) in the past series had lost game 1 and came back to win 2 and 3, so we knew they’d put up a good fight,” Carr said. “Even when we were up, we still felt 5-0 wasn’t enough. Hats off to them; they competed all seven innings and more.”

While London gets ready for a rematch with bitter District 30-3A foe Bishop in next week’s regional championship, Walker is already looking forward to next season. The Vikings will make the move up to Class 4A, but Walker says “a really great core and all of our pitching” will keep Lago Vista a contender.

Walker also likes the state of his school’s entire athletic program, which is in the midst of one of its best school years ever. The football team and girls basketball team also made long postseason runs, and both the boys and girls golf teams reached the state tournament. The Vikings are on pace to finish in the top 10 in the UIL’s Class 3A Lone Star Cup and finish in the top 20 in the American-Statesman’s Breazeale Cup, which measures all of the Austin area’s athletic programs regardless of classification.

“We’re not the best-kept secret in the Hill Country anymore,” Walker said. “We have great athletes, we have a great strength and conditioning program, we have a new indoor practice facility, new turf. … It’s a tribute to our kids and our coaches. I’m glad to be a part of it. I’m as happy as I can be in Lago. It’s a special place.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Corpus Christi London beats Lago Vista in baseball playoffs