Waxahachie and Forney May 14-15)—The Forney baseball team’s 2009 season came to a close against Waxahachie in the Bi District Round of the playoffs.   

Despite a determined effort by the Jackrabbits, Waxahachie beat Forney 2 games to 0 to win the best of 3 Bi District Playoff Series between the two teams.

With their Bi District victories, Waxahachie improves to 23-7 overall on the season. The Indians, who reached the State Finals in 2008, will play Texarkana Texas High in the Area Round of the playoffs.     

With these two defeats, Forney ends its 2009 season with a 13-17 overall record.

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Game 1:
Waxahachie 3, Forney 2
(at Waxahachie’s Paul Richards Ball Park)

Led by a strong pitching performance from senior Tyler Jones, Forney gave Waxahachie all they could handle before falling by a count of 3-2.

Jones went toe to toe with Waxahachie’s All State pitcher Colton Cain in Game 1 and the lanky Forney hurler more than held his own.

For the game, Jones pitched five complete innings and he surrendered just 3 runs on 5 hits while striking out 7 and walking 5. Jones was definitely a tough luck loser in this game.  Cain tossed a complete game (7.0 innings) while striking out 10 and walking 4.

Waxahachie took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st when they scored on a Forney error.

The score would remain 1-0 until the top of the 3rd inning. That is when Forney would score 2 runs to take a 2-1 lead. Conner Green began the 3rd inning by being hit by a pitch. Then, he was wild pitched to 2nd base. He moved over to 3rd on a sacrifice ground ball by Josh Eatherly. Green would complete his trip around the bases when he scored on a RBI single to center by Trevor McEuen to tie the game at 1-all. Kyle Jeffrey followed McEuen in the batting order, and he produced in a big way for the Rabbits when he laced a RBI double to left to plate McEuen to give the Rabbits the lead.

At this point in the game, it became very obvious to Waxahachie that Forney had come to play.

Forney had laid down a challenge to Waxahachie. The question was could the Indians answer back? In a word, yes.

The Indians’ answer to the Rabbits’ challenge would come in the form of one mighty swing of Drew Harrison’s bat.  Waxahachie’s big 1st baseman hit a towering 2 run home run to center in the bottom of the 3rd inning to help Waxahachie regain the lead at 3-2.

Forney was down again, but they kept battling. Case in point, Jones struck out Cain, one of the premier hitters in the State, with the bases loaded to end the bottom of the 5th inning.  This strikeout kept Forney very much in the game.

After Jones’ big strike out of Cain, the Forney team was energized. They used that energy burst to get the first two batters on base via a single to center and a walk in the top of the 6th inning.  Then, Hunter Sutton sacrificed the runners Tyler Jones and Evan Hawthorne into scoring position at 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Forney was one key hit from taking the lead, but unfortunately that hit would never come because Cain would not allow it. With the pressure on, Cain showed why he is an All State pitcher as he struck out the next two batters to end the inning and the scoring threat.

With two outs in the top of the 7th and final inning, Trevor McEuen was hit by a pitch. With McEuen reaching base, Kyle Jeffrey, Forney’s best hitter, was able to bat one final time. But, any dreams that Forney had of a comeback were ended when Cain got Jeffrey to hit a soft liner to 3rd for the final out of the game.

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Game 2:
Waxahachie 5, Forney 0
(at the Forney HighSchool Ball Park)

Behind the pitching and hitting of Drew Harrison, Waxahachie beat Forney 5-0 in Game 2.

In the top of the 1st inning, Harrison hit a long 2 run home run to give the Indians an early 2-0 lead.

Harrison, who was also Waxahachie’s starting pitcher in the game, would take that 2-0 lead to the mound and never relinquish it as he led the Indians to victory.

For the game, Harrison would pitch a complete game 7 hit shut out (7.0 innings) while striking out 8 and walking 2

Waxahachie would add 3 more runs to their total in the bottom of the 2nd inning to complete the scoring in the game at 5-0.