Texas City Falls In Semi Finals

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Texas City falls to Mesquite Poteet in state semis

ROUND ROCK — Alas, the magical ride is over for Texas City. And all it took to end it was a mighty swing from Mesquite Poteet catcher J.T. Files.

With Texas City leading state-ranked No. 2 Poteet by two runs in their Class 4A state semifinal matchup and a bases-loaded, two-out situation in the bottom of the third inning, Files crushed the first offering from Stingarees starter Chase Campbell over the left field wall for a grand slam. That homer gave the Pirates their first lead of the matchup and they held on to win 6-3 this evening at Dell Diamond.

Poteet (34-4) advances to the 4A state championship game at 7 p.m. Saturday to face the winner of the other semifinal game between top-ranked Corpus Christi Moody and No. 10 Canyon Randal, which is set to be played at 8:25 p.m.tonight.

Texas City ends its season at 26-12. The Stingarees reached the state tournament after upsetting third-ranked Montgomery in the Region III 4A final, two games to one.

Texas City got off to a good start against Poteet and led 3-0 after two innings. Third baseman Trey Strickland drove in Jonathan Campbell and Justin Perkins with a two-out single in the top of the first.

Stingarees catcher Blake Apffel led off the top of the second with a double off Poteet starter Johnnie Riley (6-1), and scored on an error by Pirates first baseman Teddy Nowell.

The lead was short-lived. The Pirates capitalized on three hits, two hit batsmen, and a walk to score five runs in the bottom of the third and move ahead 5-3. Files supplied the key hit with his two-out grand slam.

Nowell pushed the Pirates' lead to three runs with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth.