Shockers Black doesn’t take kindly to trailing.
So, when Piedmont garnered a one-run lead in the top of the first inning on Saturday, Black wasted little time gaining the upper hand.
Thanks to the combination of stellar hitting and pitching, the Shockers cruised to a 10-2 win at MacArthur High, advancing to the Jim Walton Memorial Tournament semifinals at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday against the Burkburnett Blacksox 18U at Cameron’s McCord Park.
The first semifinal game at noon will match the Shockers Red against the Oklahoma City Expos. The winners of the semifinal contests will play for the title at 5 p.m. at Cameron’s McCord Field.
Black already defeated the Blacksox during pool play, 14-7, on Friday night.
The win marked the 10th time the Shockers (11-0-1) earned a run-rule victory this season.
Shockers Black coach Cesar Figuereo said the team’s recent performances have him feeling optimistic.
“It’s been great,” Figuereo said. “They’ve been getting on base, and that’s what we’re looking for — getting on base and scoring runs. It gives us the opportunity to make something happen.”
The Shockers tied it up in the bottom half thanks to a Wildcats fielding error on a Gage Phelps (Sterling) ground ball, and though that was the only run Black managed in the inning, pitcher Lance Bianchini kept Piedmont from gaining any more traction.
And while Bianchini was busy keeping the Wildcats off base, the Shockers provided plenty of insurance, tallying seven more runs before Anadarko’s Braedon Borden relieved the Elgin native in the fifth.
Bianchini recorded one strikeout while allowing only two hits in 4.0 innings of action.
“He was attacking the zone early and giving us an opportunity to get some runs early,” Figuereo said.
Bianchini, a member of Elgin’s Class 4A state championship team, is 3-0 in starts this season.
“My arm felt good, and I wanted to take advantage of it today,” Bianchini said.
Piedmont pitcher Tabor McClure had the opposite experience on the bump, though.
Black’s first five batters in the second inning reached base, putting McClure and the Wildcats in a bad situation. Josh Bumgarner of Duncan led off by reaching second base on a throwing error to first, and Wyatt Johnson brought him home shortly thereafter with a double to left field.
Johnson stole third base as MacArthur’s Trey Longacre earned a walk, and Creed Watkins of Duncan completed Johnson’s trip around the diamond with a well-place single to right field.
Another Piedmont error then put Borden on base, scoring Longacre in the process to make the score 4-1.
McClure finally caught a break when Conner Thaxton hit an infield fly, but the nightmarish inning wasn’t quite over for the Wildcats.
A walk loaded the bases for the Shockers, and Tanner Ladon of Marlow responded with a single to score Watkins.
McClure seemed to have shaken his struggles in the third by striking out Johnson, but Black proved otherwise.
A passed ball put Longacre at first, and Watkins drilled a single to right center to put the Shockers in scoring position. Black took advantage of the situation when yet another Wildcats error allowed pinch runner Andrew Lechuga (Tipton) to cover the distance from second base to home for a run.
After an error put Watkins and Borden at third and second, respectively, Watkins scored his second run of the day on a Thaxton sacrifice fly.
Phelps then drove in Borden with a single to right field, pushing the lead to 8-1.
After both teams went scoreless in the fourth, Piedmont managed its final run in the fifth when Dillon Dibrell recorded an RBI groundout to score Garrett Davis.
The Shockers would tack on two more runs of their own through the bottom half of the inning and the sixth, polishing the seemingly flawless 10-2 victory.
The Wildcats finished with seven errors, four of which directly resulted in runs for Black. The Shockers outhit Piedmont, 11-2.
Black now redirects its focus to the final day of competition, which could present an all-Shockers championship game at Cameron University’s McCord Field if both teams win their semifinal matchups.
Shockers Red defeated the Woodward Travelers, 15-0, on that very field in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
“They have been talking a lot about us, and we’ve been talking a lot about them,” Figuereo said. “It should be a good game. They’re a good team, we’re a good team — it should be a good battle.”
Watkins, who went 2-for-3 at the plate and scored two runs, said he is confident in Black’s ability to beat Red and end its reign of terror on tournament opponents. Shockers Red have defeated their challengers by a combined score of 67-15 through the first three days of the Jim Walton.
“We have a good shot to beat our older team (Shockers Red),” Watkins said. “We’re pretty familiar with all of them. They have a lot more pitching than us, but I think we can beat them.”