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The official student news site of Coppell High School

Coppell Student Media

The official student news site of Coppell High School

Coppell Student Media

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October 26, 2023

Elliott’s veteran presence pulls through under pressure

By Marcus Krum
Staff Writer
@marcuskrum

 

Bases loaded, two outs, final inning of a rivalry game. It’s a situation that can cause even the most seasoned major league pitchers nervousness.

However, senior pitcher Jenson Elliott, as calmly as could be, stood on the mound and delivered a two-strike slider to clinch the Cowboys’ 3-2 home comeback win over Southlake Carroll on Friday night.

Senior pitcher Jensen Elliott winds up and pitches to the Southlake batter Friday night. Elliott, the Oklahoma State signee, recorded 13 strikeouts and only allowed one hit in seven innings pitched. Photo by Aubrie Sisk.
Senior pitcher Jensen Elliott winds up and pitches to the Southlake batter Friday night. Elliott, the Oklahoma State signee, recorded 13 strikeouts and only allowed one hit in seven innings pitched. Photo by Aubrie Sisk.

Coppell started with a wild first inning in the field, giving up an error in the outfield that allowed two runs to score for the Dragons.

“They’re a quality team. I knew they would give us a better effort,” coach Kendall Clark. “You’d think, ‘well a team that got beat at home throwing their No. 1 [pitcher] would be a little easier on the road’, but quality teams are going to bring a better effort because it was a huge game.”

After that first half inning, as the game progressed, it looked as if it was going to be a pitching duel. The Cowboys struck out six times in the two innings, getting only one base runner off of a walk.

However, in the bottom of the first, Coppell had runners on the corners with no outs, and a sacrifice fly from senior outfielder Daniel Jones brought in the runner on third and put the Cowboys on the board.

“Good teams and certainly teams that have some experience, and we have a lot of experience on this squad, you just don’t panic,” Clark said.  “You just keep playing the game. I told them that seven innings and two hours is a long time. You don’t win the game in the first five minutes. It’s going to take all night to get it done.”

And all night it took. With Elliott pitching a gem from the second inning onward, the Cowboys took advantage of a balk that moved the runner to third base by getting an RBI base hit from junior first baseman Marco Navarro.

“I just kind of settled in the dugout,” Elliott said. “I basically went up to some teammates, told them that we were going to win this, told them that we were going to come back and fight. I told them that we were going to end up coming up with the [win].”

After sophomore infielder Trey Becerra roped a bases loaded single into left field to bring home Jones and give the Cowboys a 3-2 lead, Elliott was put into the high-pressure situation of holding a one run lead in the final inning.

“[Jensen was] outstanding,” Clark said. “He’s a very veteran-like pitcher. He has three solid pitches, he doesn’t panic, he doesn’t just go to his fastball when things are going bad, because that’s the tendency, to try to throw harder. He actuall

Junior pitcher Marco Navarro starts his swing Friday night during a home district game against the Southlake Dragons. Coppell won 3-2, and Navarro recorded a hit and one RBI in the game. Photo by Aubrie Sisk.
Junior pitcher Marco Navarro starts his swing Friday night during a home district game against the Southlake Dragons. Coppell won 3-2, and Navarro recorded a hit and one RBI in the game. Photo by Aubrie Sisk.

y uses his off-speed [pitches] in those situations, and that’s not what the hitter is looking for. He’s looking for you to bring a fastball and maybe overthrow it.” After walking the first batter, and, after a groundout, hitting two more, the bases were loaded with one out and the game on the line. Instead of letting the pressure get to him, Elliott collectively got the last two outs of the game, the last one coming on his 13th strikeout of the night.

“I don’t get nervous easily, so it was kind of easy,” Elliot said. “I knew that my slider had been working all night, so I thought I would throw it and see what happened, and it was successful.”

Elliot finished the game with a complete game one-hitter, and allowed the Dragons no earned runs.

“He’s really savvy, he’s experienced, he’s a big game pitcher. He didn’t panic, he just kept towing it and doing his job,” Clark said. “At the end of the night, you’re trying to play seven innings, not one.”

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