AUSTIN — Plano rallied in the top of the seventh inning but couldn’t overcome its earlier mistakes as its season came to an end with a 10-8 loss to Humble Atascocita in Game 2 of the Class 5A Region II final Friday.
Three Plano pitchers walked a combined seven batters and the Wildcats committed three errors as Atascocita erased an early deficit to sweep the best-of-3 series and earn its first trip to the state tournament.
Plano, which was seeking its first state trip since 1975, had one last furious rally in the top of the seventh inning and scored six runs.
Early on A.J. Liu and Ryan Robertson had back-to-back triples in the first inning, helping Plano take a 2-0 lead.
Atascocita rebounded and took the lead in the bottom of the second inning. Mitchell Hansen walked three batters in the inning, giving Atascocita’s Alerick Soularie and Ryan Wadkins an opportunity to drive in runs on an double and an error.
Plano had runners reach base in the second through fourth innings but couldn’t capitalize. In the second and third innings back-to-back fly outs ended threats, while a pick-off and a double play cancelled out back-to-back walks by Anthony Pagano in the fourth inning.
Atascocita tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Pagano then put the game out of reach for Atascocita in the bottom of the sixth inning with a three-run home run.
That home run proved crucial as Plano batted around the order with its season on the line, but came up just short of forcing extra innings.