The Coppell Cowboys lost to the South Grand Prairie Warriors Friday night, 8-2, at Highland
Park, ending the team’s playoff run and season. In the best of three Class 5A area playoffs series, the Cowboys were swept in two games after losing the opener to the Warriors, 7-6, on Thursday.
“I was disappointed because I felt like we had an opportunity to win both games in the series,” senior captain and left fielder Zane Feemster said. “Not many people gave us a chance this year so I am proud we made a run.”
The Cowboys swept Grapevine in the bi-district playoffs to vindicate last season’s lost to the Mustangs. In both games the Cowboys had clutch hitting and great pitching, especially from junior pitcher Sam Swinton who gave up only two hits in Game 2.
“We just had some clutch hits in the first series against Grapevine that helped us win,” senior third baseman Parker Hutchins said. “We still had some timely hitting in the South Grand Prairie series but when we needed it the clutch hits didn’t happen.”
The Cowboys accomplished the most during the team’s district campaign where they finished second behind Flower Mound. In the parity filled District 6-5A, the Cowboys were not viewed as a team that could compete with the likes of Flower Mound, Southlake Carroll and Flower Mound Marcus.
“Our team was predicted to finish fourth in the district and lose in the first round,” Swinton said. “I think we did pretty well this season and beat the critics expectations.”
Before district play however, the team was looking for wins and an identity. The Cowboys were playing talented teams and although they were not winning games, the team figured out that the strong suit of the 2010 Cowboys would be offense.
“Early in the year we would lose close games to good teams because we were making small mistakes every game,” Hutchins said. “We did a good job identifying those mistakes and resolving them when district came around.”
The Cowboys certainly had some entertaining ball games this year. When the team played Flower Mound at home, a quick start for both teams resulted in 32 total runs between the teams by the end of the game. Another memorable game came against the Southlake Carroll Dragons, whom Coppell beat at Southlake 9-4 to further secure the Cowboys playoff fate. This important win also gave the Cowboys a tiebreaker over the Dragons, which enabled them to finish second in district.
The re-districting for next year will no doubt affect the Cowboys baseball team.
“The team we have to really watch out for is Southlake,” junior captain and shortstop Adam Toth said. “Southlake vs. Coppell in baseball will have a chance to be a pretty big rivalry.”
Although the Cowboys were unable to escape the second round of the playoffs, the team returns seven starters and has a great opportunity to win district and make a deep playoff run. Toth recently went on an unofficial visit to the University of Texas for baseball, so the talent and leadership Toth exhibits will be key to next years Cowboys state chances.
“The taste of losing hopefully will spark a fire in next year’s team and the players who were a part of this year,” Feemster said. “Only one team can win state a year, but I don’t see any reason why Coppell can’t be that team.”
