As he rounded first base, giving a first pump in the air, Coppell leadoff hitter and junior centerfielder Cody Masters watched the first pitch of the game fly well over the right field fence.

Right when he hit home plate and was barraged by teammates, Masters tied the game up, and later that inning Coppell got a lead that the Cowboys would take the lead big and never look back as Coppell (20-0 overall, 6-0 District 7-6A) defeated Richland (15-10, 4-4) with a final score of 10-3 at the Coppell ISD Baseball/Softball Complex.

“I thought I was able to set the tone the very first pitch of the game,” Masters said. “I got to start the game of well and get the offense going.”

A couple of errors, a walk, a single from senior first baseman Marco Navarro and a three run home run from senior third baseman Ray Gaither gave the Cowboys an 8-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning.

“We had scouted that pitcher [Will Allen] and we knew what he throws,” Coppell coach Kendall Clark said. “We worked 10 days on watching film and studying this guy, so we had him figured out and it showed.”

Coppell senior starting pitcher Charles King struggled some throughout the night. While he only gave up two runs and got out of lots of jams, including a bases loaded with one out in the top of the third.

“At times he had his really good fastball, and at times he didn’t,” Clark said. “When he didn’t, it just got him in some trouble. But he showed he was able to battle and hang in there and keep the damage to a minimum. But again, he didn’t have his fastball but you still have to find a way to win when you don’t have it and that’s what he did.”

Senior Chris Burdine, an Abilene Christian baseball commit, entered during the fifth inning to relieve King with the bases loaded and allowed one run on an errant pickoff throw. In the sixth inning, senior right fielder Ben Kelly took a pitch over the left-center fence that gave the Cowboys a 10-3 lead that stood at the game’s end.

Yet other than the win, what stood out to Clark was some of the defensive play of the team.

“We think our standard is higher than having five errors in one game,” Clark said. “We don’t expect to have no errors every game, but it needs to be better. We can’t get lackadaisical and complacent when we’re up big in a game. Now it’s not a bad win, a win is always a win, but there is some things we need to have more focus on and do a better job on.”
This district win gets the Cowboys to a perfect 20-0 on the season and keeps them as the No. 1 team in the nation.