State contenders claim area titles; Mineral Wells & Springtown headed to game three

5A Div. I

Aledo 5-3 Fort Worth Paschal

* Lucas Nawrocki: 1-1, 2 R, solo HR, 2 BB

* Dylan Duran: 1-3, 2 RBI, 2B

* Luke Sandefur: 4 IP, 0 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K

* Aledo 2-0 series win

Paschal took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning that took a while for Aledo to bounce back from. Lucas Nawrocki struck first for the Bearcats with a lead-off home run in the second.

Once the game settled and Aledo was up to bat in the fourth, Landon Barnes hit a one-out triple. Nawrocki earned a walk to put runners at the corners before Barnes scored on a wild pitch during the next at-bat to tie the game at two.

Duran gave Aledo its first lead of the night with a 2-run double in the top of the sixth. Reid Huffman added another with an RBI single in the top of the seventh.

Following Luke Sandefur's no-hit performance through four innings, Dane Browne finished out the contest with three innings of work. Outside of a solo homer and a single with two outs, Browne closed it out and picked up the win.

Aledo will play the winner of Amarillo and El Paso Bel Air in the regional semifinals.

4A Div. I

Mineral Wells 5-7 Decatur

* Mineral Wells: 10 walks earned

* Braxton May: 1-3, R, RBI, BB

* Series tied 1-1

Hits were hard to come by for the Rams, with two of the three coming in the final frame. Mineral Wells batters were patient at the plate and took many pitches, especially with a shaky start from the Decatur starting pitcher.

However, the Eagles held a 3-0 lead after the top of the third.

The Rams finally got on the board in the bottom half with a single and three walks to bring in the first run of the night. In the fourth, Devin Russell's lead-off walk led to an error on a pickoff attempt by the pitcher, allowing Russell to reach third. He would score soon after on a passed ball.

However, the Eagles finished strong with four runs across the final two innings. Holding a 7-2 lead in the final inning, the Rams showed a sign of life with a William Hollifield single and Kord Henry walk to begin the frame.

Braxton May brought home a run on an RBI double and put runners in scoring position with nobody out. During Brogan Sims' at-bat, Henry scored on a passed ball to cut the deficit to three.

With May at third, Josh Petrie's sacrifice fly allowed May to score.

Cale Kirtley stepped into the box with Sims at second and hit a fly ball to right field. Believing he had time to tag up, Sims attempted to go to third after the catch, but the throw and tag were in time for Decatur to end the game on a double play.

Game three will be played Saturday, at 11 a.m. at Weatherford High School.

Springtown 3-7 Stephenville

* Lincoln Smith: 2-3, 3B

* Series tied 1-1

Riding the high of a game-one victory, the Pines kicked off game two with all the momentum by scoring three runs in the opening frame.

Springtown scored all of its runs without any hits, thanks to a hit by pitch, three walks and two fielder's choices.

The Yellow Jackets replied with two of their own in the bottom half, jumpstarting their stretch of seven unanswered. Two runs in the third and three more in the fourth put Stephenville ahead by four and the Pines couldn't replicate their work from the first inning.

Only five hits for Springtown in the loss, while using three arms in the process.

Godley High School hosts game three Saturday at noon.

3A Div. I

Peaster 3-10 Jim Ned

* Hudson Salyers: 1-3, 2 RBI

* Peaster: 6 errors

* Peaster 0-2 series loss

Peaster was unable to bounce back from game one and committed six errors in Friday's loss to end its season.

Jim Ned scored all of its runs through four innings, including seven in the fourth, before the Greyhounds got on the board.

1A Region I & II

Gordon 18-2 Milford [5 innings/game one]

* Aiden Shank: 2-3, 6 RBI, 2 2B

* Brayden Walters: 1-2, 3 R, 2 RBI, HR, BB

Gordon 5-2 Milford [game two]

* Noah Kostiha: 2-3, R, 2 RBI

* Gatlin Simmons: 3-3, R, RBI

* Aiden Shank: 1-4, R, RBI, 2B / 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 7 K

* Stryker Reed: 4.2 IP, 7 K

* Gordon 2-0 series win

Aiden Shank played a role in Gordon's two wins over Milford Friday evening, pushing across six RBIs in game one and closing it out on the mound in game two with seven strikeouts in 2.1 innings of work.

The Longhorns scored five or more in three of the five innings in game one, bringing in 18 runs on 10 hits and three Bulldog errors.

Milford fought back in game two, being the first to score. Gordon tied it up at one with a Brayden Walter sacrifice fly.

The Longhorns took the lead on a 2-out rally in the second when Shank's RBI double and Kostiha's 2-run single put Gordon ahead by three.

Gatlin Simmons drove in the team's fifth run in the third on a single.

Gordon pitching only allowed one run over the next four innings and overcame three errors.

The Longhorns advance to the regional finals to take on Oglesby.