“Incredible,” was Tristan Clark’s feeling Saturday, April 30, after the center fielder’s walk-off double capped a three-run, two-out rally in the seventh inning to advance Mingus Union High School to the state quarterfinals.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
After defeating Washington High School, 5-4, the senior’s lifetime with the No. 5 seed Marauders will be extended to at least Friday, May 6.
At 6 p.m., a berth in the Division III semifinals will be at stake when the Marauders take on fourth-seeded Kofa High School at the Surprise Sports Complex.
Before the at-bat, Clark counseled himself to shorten up his bat and ensure contact with the ball, he said.
It had worked in the second inning for Clark, who had an RBI double to put the Marauders up early, 2-1, in a second-round game delayed almost an hour by lightning.
Sophomore Andrew Kulis also had an RBI in the bottom of the second inning.
For most of the game up to Clark’s game-winner, the Marauders seemed on a course to be upset by the 12th-seeded Rams, who twice had MUHS down to its final strike.
“I had a little doubt,” said junior pitcher Mitchell Lindsay, whose run-scoring single brought the Marauders to within 4-3 with two outs. “But I just found a pitch and drove it the other way [to] get a run in.”
Lindsay would drive in sophomore Tyler Kelly, who worked the count full before drawing his second walk with one out in the seventh, along with junior catcher Gus Henley.
“Basically, I’m just trying to help my seniors stay in it and move toward another game,” Lindsay said. “We want to go to the state championship.”
Lindsay picked up the victory in two-and-two-thirds innings of relief for nervous sophomore left-hander Jordan Huey, who gave up seven hits but just one earned run through the first out of the fifth inning.
Down 3-2, Lindsay would quiet the Rams lineup down through the middle of the sixth inning before Kulis opened the bottom of the inning by avoiding the tag of the Washington first baseman for an infield single.
Then the lightning came, clearing out all eight fields of the Surprise Sports Complex and sending Lindsay and his teammates to the parking lot for nearly an hour.
“We had to go on the bus,” he said. “Listen to some music, focus up.”
Freshman Bradley Howard, a pinch-runner for Kulis, would steal second base after the delay in the face of wind-blown rains. He would be left stranded, though, as Clark was the first of three strikeout victims to end the MUHS threat in the sixth.
But after Lindsay gave the Marauders life, Kulis would drive in Henley to tie the game, 4-4. Head coach Bob Young replaced Lindsay at second base with courtesy runner Justin Tanner, setting up Clark, who drove a hanging fastball with a one-ball, one-strike count to the gap in right-center field.
“I just love my team,” he said. “This feels great. This is going to carry our momentum forward.”
How forward the Marauders go will be decided May 6 against the Kings.
Kofa allowed just one run in its first two playoff games, although its 6-1 and 4-0 wins were over teams seeded 29th and 20th, respectively.
Although Young has continued to say that starting pitchers in the playoffs are all dependent upon what team the Marauders match up with, his freshest starter is senior Zack Abrigo.
Abrigo breezed through a 10-0, six-inning victory over Chino Valley High School in the first round Friday, April 29, allowing three hits.
He would help his cause at the plate with a single in the first inning that drove in Henley and Kelly for the first two runs of the postseason for MUHS.
Lindsay, Henley and Kelly, who had a double and a triple, each added two RBIs against the Cougars, who have been outscored this season 30-0 by the Marauders.
MUHS won, 20-0, over Chino Valley at home March 22.
