WAXAHACHIE — Pitcher Trent Armstrong was in control from start to finish Thursday night, and thanks to his dominance at Richards Park, Waxahachie is one win from the Class 4A Region II finals.
The junior threw a three-hitter as Waxahachie beat Frisco Wakeland, 2-0, in Game 1 of the best-of-3 series.
“I felt really good,” Armstrong said. “I just wanted to throw strikes and let my defense make the plays.”
Armstrong had six strikeouts for Waxahachie as he outdueled Wakeland’s Hayden Nixon, who escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first. He was in control the next three innings, but Waxahachie (22-13) broke through with a two-out rally in the fifth.
Blake Gonzales got into scoring position by stealing second, and David Villerreal hit a sharp grounder into right field to send him home. Waxahachie’s Dillon Yates then pounded a ball deep that spun center fielder Dan Harrington around as it got caught in the wind. Harrington got under it but couldn’t make the catch, and it was ruled a hit.
More important, it drove home another run, giving Waxahachie a 2-0 lead.
Wakeland (27-11) didn’t put a runner in scoring position until Seth Mullis hit a one-out double to left in the top of the seventh.
Cameron Brockhoff followed with a walk, and Johnny Gonzales’ groundout to shortstop put the tying run in scoring position. Ryan Perry hit a liner just foul down the right-field line before grounding out to end the game.
“We’ve just got to keep fighting on Saturday,” Armstrong said. “They’re a very good team, but hopefully we can get to round five.”
Game 2 is Saturday at 2 p.m. at Dr Pepper Ballpark in Frisco.
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