By Brian Gosset
X – @gosset41
X – @gmsportsmedia1
EULESS – Meeting in the playoffs for the third time in four years, Brewer exploded for 4 runs in the top of the eighth inning to beat Colleyville Heritage 7-4 in Game 1 of their Class 5A D2 bi-district series on Wednesday night at Euless Trinity.
Brewer (18-8) will look to close out the series in Game 2 at 7 pm Thursday back at Trinity while Heritage (14-17-1) tries to force a Game 3 on Friday.
“Nothing like the bottom of your lineup coming through in the clutch,” Brewer coach Josh Richards said. “Any time a team does that, you can explode offensively and you saw that tonight, especially with 2 seniors, it was special moment for them to contribute that way.”
Leading 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth, the Bears couldn’t hold onto their lead when Heritage tied it on an RBI single up the middle from Sophie Longnecker.
But in the eighth, senior second baseman Lilly Meller sparked a 4-run inning when she took the first pitch of her at-bat to right field for a 2-run single that gave Brewer a 5-3 lead. Meller would score one batter later on an RBI triple from Charisma Johnson.
“I was on deck and I thought holy crap, it’s coming down to me and I’m going to have to lock in,” said Meller, who is signed with Friends University. “I look at my dad who is opposite field and I said okay. I go up to bat and swing, first pitch and knock it in, and I’m think oh my god I just did that. I was super excited and everybody in the dugout was loud – it felt great.”
Johnson scored one batter later with a single to center from Ava Pena that pushed the Bears’ lead to 7-3.
Eden Cole hit a lead-off triple in the Heritage eighth and scored on Sammie Pham’s single to left before Brewer starting pitcher Cozy Tyson shut down the next three batters.
Tyson pitched all 8 innings for Brewer and struck out 7.
Pham got the start for Heritage and struck out 6 batters before being pulled in the eighth.
The Panthers got off to a hot start when Ali Sisneros took a pitch to deep left for a 2-run home run against Tyson.
But Tyson bounced back – not allowing a hit and only allowing two base runners from the second inning through the fifth.
“Cozy has developed a composure that is carrying her through any minor adjustments she may need to make,” Richards said. “I think last year she ran on emotion through the roof and now she’s developed a more mature side in the circle that’s awesome to see.”
Pham was good at the start – shutting down the first 8 Bears and not allowing a hit until the third.
Brewer would tie it in the top of the fourth when Haylie Jimenez and Avery Welch led off with back-to-back singles. Tyson hit a long double to center that drove in Jimenez from second that cut the Heritage lead to 2-1. Welch would score and tie the game on a sac fly RBI from Sami Aguirre.
Tyson and Pham both had scoreless fifth innings before Aguirre came up with another big scoring run in the top of the sixth. Kamren Pride and Tyson hit back-to-back 1-out singles and Aguirre doubled in the go-ahead run with a fly ball to center.
Pham and Sisneros singled in the bottom of the sixth and Longnecker hit a 1-1 pitch to center with 2 outs that tied the game at 3-3.
Johnson reached in the Brewer seventh, but Pham shut down the next three to send it to the bottom half of the inning. Tyson retired the order as the game went into extras.
During the regular season, Brewer finished second in District 5-5A while Heritage came in fourth in 6-5A.
