One crack of the bat in the bottom of the seventh inning turned a 1-1 tied ball game into a 3-1 victory over Georgetown Gateway. Badger Cory White launched a ball out to left field that carried over the wall, as the players in the dugout and crowd in the bleachers erupted with cheers.
It was White’s first home run with Lampasas, and it could not have come at a better time.
The senior has had big plays in back-to-back district home games now. He singled to extend the seventh inning against Burnet last Friday in a game that eventually ended in a walk-off victory for the Badgers, and then this time he did it himself with the homer.
After the game, White walked through his final at bat and how it felt to watch that ball fly over the fence.
“Honestly, we had a hitand-run called, so I knew I had to swing at the ball. So I was just trying to put one into the gap, and it kind of came inside on me. I turned on it, and let God do His work,” White said.
Another Badger who deserves credit for his work in the bottom of the seventh is Brayden McLoughlin, who singled down the right-field line. That moved the order along to bring up White with two outs in the inning.
In what was a pitcher’s duel on the night, Kade Landry got the start for Lampasas, and he was electric. He pitched the full seven innings, giving up just four hits and one earned run while striking out 16 Gateway batters in the contest.
Landry expressed a lot of confidence in himself on the mound after a masterful performance.
“I came out ready to go and ready to shove,” Landry said. “Setting up the breaking ball with the fastball, I trusted my stuff, and I trusted my field behind me. Definitely, they made some plays behind me.”
Landry and Calum Mitchell have been alternating Tuesday night starts, while Calvin Phelps has been the player on the mound in the Friday night contests. As a group, those three have been pretty stellar for the Badgers. And because they have been so good on the mound, the offense doesn’t feel a lot of pressure to have to score a bunch of runs to win.
Head coach Chance Evans talked after the win about his team’s pitching depth.
“It’s great to have, because you know that all you have to do is scratch a couple of runs across to win a ball game,” Evans said. “It builds a lot of confidence in our guys, and I think that is what allows them to relax at the plate.”
As a coach, Evans said he can’t really remember a more dramatic walk-off home run that he has been a part of. He certainly was excited to create that memory with this team.
“Not too many walkoff home runs, so that was probably the most dramatic, probably the best memory of one that I have so far, and it was phenomenal,” the head coach said.
After starting their district season 4-0 with four run-rule victories over Taylor and Jarrell, the Badgers have had to scratch and claw for their last three wins over Burnet (twice) and Gateway on Tuesday. Those games included two consecutive walk-off wins.
This team is making a habit of finding a way to win whatever type of ball game is being played. The Badgers seem to get the big hit when they need it or get the big strikeout when they have to have it. That trait should serve them well as they come down the stretch in district play -- and especially when they move into an eventual playoff series.
Lampasas played its series finale against Gateway on Thursday, but those results weren’t available in time for publication in this edition.
The Badgers looked to move to 8-0 before they play Marble Falls next week when they will be on the road Tuesday and back at home on Friday.
