HobbsDailyReport.com
Facing a must-win game if they wanted to still have a chance at repeating as Northwestern 3A-4A baseball champs, the Sp;artans won 3-2 at Foard on Wednesday night.
NEWTON – Winning a conference baseball title with South Caldwell High in your league just isn’t an easy thing to do.
With Fred T. Foard needing a win to wrap up the Northwestern 3A-4A regular season title on Wednesday night, it was the Spartans who said not just yet.
South Caldwell scored a run in the sixth inning and beat the Tigers 3-2 to stay alive in the chase for a title the Spartans won last season by going 14-0 in the conference.
As the final game of the regular season approaches, Foard (13-5-1, 11-2) is still assured of no worse than a share of the title and the Tigers have locked up the league’s No. 1 state 3A playoff bid.
Foard is at St. Stephens at 7 p.m. on Thursday and South Caldwell (15-4-1, 10-3) is at home, at 6:30 p.m., to play Watauga.
The Spartans, win or lose, have secured the league’s No. 1 4A playoff berth because Watauga (8-12, 5-7) is too far behind to catch South Caldwell.
In Wednesday’s game, South Caldwell had two hits and drew two walks in the sixth inning. Brandon Sisk walked with one out and scored the go-ahead run on a two-out single by Hunter Lunsford.
Spencer Miller doubled with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning but Sisk protected a one-run lead by getting the final out.
The conference tournament begins next week. If it were paired after Wednesday’s games, it would be: No. 8 Freedom at No. 1 Foard; No. 7 Patton at No. 2 South Caldwell; No. 6 St. Stephens at No. 3 Hickory; and No. 5 Watauga at No. 4 Hibriten.
The final regular season games, though, could cause some ties. Hibriten and Hickory are separated by one game for third place and Watauga and St. Stephens are separated by a half-game for fifth.