Pampa traveled to West Plains on Thursday night. This was the second time they traveled there this week. Tuesday, during batting practice, lightning struck. The delay ended up turning into a postponement due to not having lights. Pampa was unable to secure the win in an 11-1 run-rule loss. Pampa’s record now rested at 12-14 overall and 7-6 in district play.
This was a tough pill to swallow for the Harvesters as West Plains came out on fire to begin the game. They recorded six runs in the bottom of the first to quickly put the Harvesters in a massive hole.
Despite some hard-hit balls, Pampa was unable to get any hits together in the first, second, and third innings. It looked as though this might continue to be the case in the fourth until Freshman Max Neff hit a no-doubter home run to left field on the first pitch of his at-bat to take away the no-hitter bid and the scoreless total for Pampa. Sophomore Brooks Barton followed with a double of his own to centerfield. Unfortunately for Pampa, those were all the hits the Harvesters could muster on Thursday night.
The nail was struck in the coffin for Pampa when the Wolves put together five more runs in the bottom of the fourth to attain the 10 needed for the possible run-rule ending.
A bright spot came on the mound from Sophomore Isaiah Estrada. He pitched three-and-one-third innings and struck out two batters. While five runs did score, none were earned.
Max Neff was 1-2 with the home run and obviously a run scored and RBI to go with it. Brooks Barton was 1-2 with a double. Freshman Boston Botello and Senior Huston Skinner each walked in the game as well.
The Harvesters hosted Randall on Friday night in the final game of the regular season, pending weather. If the game was PPD, it will be played today at 12 noon on Harvester Field. Look up Pampa Harvester Baseball on Facebook and Twitter for updates!
District Standings as of April 27 (Top 4 will make playoffs):
Randall 13-0 - District Champions
Canyon 10-3 - 2nd place
West Plains 8-5
Pampa 7-6
Hereford 7-6
Dumas 4-9 - eliminated
Perryton 3-10 - eliminated
Borger 0-13 - eliminated
Other games Friday/Saturday: Hereford @ Borger. Canyon @ Perryton. West Plains @ Dumas
The scenario is simple now. Pampa must beat Randall to force a tiebreaker with Hereford. However, if Hereford were to somehow lose to Borger, this would also force a tiebreaker.
Tuesday, we will have another article where we hopefully talk about a big upset win for the Harvesters!
Catch up on the recap of those games next week! All games are live-streamed on the GameChanger app. You can also catch Jamisen Hancock and Ben Campbell with the radio call for KDRL 103.3 FM. Their radio broadcast will also be on the live stream.
