The Aubrey Chaparrals baseball team’s playoff run came to an end, with the Chaps falling to the Frisco Panther Creek Panthers two games to one in the 4A Region II Regional Finals on Saturday.
Panther Creek opened the best of three series with a 3-0 win in Game 1, and Aubrey battled back to win Game 2, 4-3, but the Panthers took Game 3 and the series in convincing fashion, winning 12-2.
“Our kids played their tails off,” Aubrey head baseball coach Nathan Henry said. “… We just came up a little short there, and in Game 3 we ran out of gas, but we have nothing to be ashamed of. We were playing for our season in Game 3, which is something we did two times before, but one game doesn’t overshadow the whole season, and I’m incredibly proud of how hard our kids played.”
The series started with a defensive duel in Game 1 with both teams containing their opponent’s offense, until Panther Creek found gaps in Aubrey’s to score the two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, taking a 2-0 lead.
Panther Creek picked up another score in the next inning and held on to win 3-0.
The Panthers won the hitting and pitching battles, finishing with 6 hits to the Chaps’ 3 and racking up 14 strikeouts to Aubrey’s 2.
The defensive battle continued in Game 2, with the matchup remaining scoreless until the Chaps scored the first run in the bottom of the sixth inning when a pop fly hit by Colton Billings allowed Keriel Torres to cross home plate.
Aubrey added three more runs in the same inning with Matthew Finley scoring on a passed ball and a line drive single hit by Dane Buck driving in 2 runs, putting the Chaps on top 4-0.
The Panthers responded with a 3-run scoring run in the top of the seventh inning, cutting the Chaps’ lead to 1, but Aubrey pitcher Jimmy Hay struck out Panther Creek batter Jacob Hocson for the final out, tying the series at one game apiece.
Panther Creek leapt out to an early 2-0 lead in the second inning of Game 3, but Aubrey answered with a 2-run scoring burst in the third, tying the game at 2-2.
Despite the Chaps’ ef- forts to keep it close, the Panthers took control of the matchup with back-to-back 4-run bursts in the fourth and fifth innings, taking a 10-2 lead.
Panther Creek went on to add two more runs in the seventh inning, taking the win 12-2 and the series.
Henry said he was proud of the resilience the Chaps displayed during their playoff run and said he’s excited for the future of the program.
“We lost Game 1, and it would’ve been easier to just say we had a great season and move on, but they wanted to keep [playing] for each other,” he said. “I couldn’t be more proud of how they showed up every week and their ability to respond to adversity, and that’s what made this team so great. … We can only grow from this.”
He also spoke highly of what the team accomplished overall this season, with them reaching the regional finals for the second time in program history.
“We ended up playing 41 games in a high school season, and that’s incredible,” Henry said. “… We ask a lot of these kids, early mornings and late nights, with them being a student first, and they answered, and that’s what makes this program different.”
Henry thanked God, his assistant coaches, the Aubrey ISD Administration, the Aubrey ISD parents and the players for supporting the team and for helping make the season special.
“They’re all first-class people, who are outstanding at their jobs, and they are always there to support us in anything that we needed, and the parents showed up every game and made a huge difference for us,” he said. “It’s a lot easier to play when you have a good fan base behind you, rooting for you, so thank you to them.”
