As the Friday night’s game drew on in extra innings, there was a feeling within the Coppell baseball team dugout that it was its game to win. The remainder of the initial crowd cheered louder every play. Each hit came painstakingly close to victory. Coppell senior left fielder Carter Fields directed the bench to fill up water bottles for celebration.

The intensity in the dugouts and at Coppell ISD Baseball/Softball Complex drew to a climax in the bottom of the 12th inning. Coppell junior shortstop TJ Pompey walked on a full count and Coppell senior catcher Bradley Castillo as well as Coppell senior third baseman Walker Polk were intentionally walked after Coppell senior right fielder Andrew Nester grounded out. 

The bases were loaded with one out and up stepped Coppell senior designated hitter Landry Fee. After fouling off a fastball by Marcus junior pitcher Logan Boertje , Fee lined a curveball to center field to score Pompey. 

“That was awesome,” Fee said. “It was a tough win, which is what we’ve been striving for all year.”

Fee’s walk-off single in the bottom of the 12th saw the Marauders off as the Cowboys (12-5, 5-1 in District 6-6A) avenged their only district loss and defeated Marcus, 3-2, in game two of a heated rivalry series last night.

“I couldn’t be happier for our players. That was as tough a win as we’ve had in our program since I’ve been here,” Coppell coach Ryan Howard said. “There were good pitchers on both sides. It was going to come down to who could get a lead-off man on and who could come up with a big hit and we were able to do that so I’m happy.”

Regardless of the walk-off, the win, the fans and the rivalry, the moment was exceptionally important, special and “pretty crazy” for Fee because Saturday marks the one year anniversary of Fee tearing his ulnar collateral ligament, requiring reconstructive surgery. 

Nester got the start on the mound. After a scoreless first inning, Marcus senior left fielder Ryan Lawton doubled on a line drive to center field. The next batter, senior shortstop Camden Mitchell, singled on a hard ground ball to center field to score Lawton. Senior first baseman Jacob Morgan doubled on a line drive to center and scored Mitchell, giving the Marauders (13-5-2, 5-1) a 2-0 lead.. 

“This team has some playoff experience, they know what it takes; they were looking forward to this game all week and they weren’t going to lose it,” Howard said. 

In the bottom of the third with one out, Marcus senior pitcher Isaac Thornton committed a throwing error on a pickoff attempt at second base, allowing Nester to advance to third. On the same error, Nester scored to cut the Marcus lead to 2-1. 

“I saw the ball get by the pitcher, I saw nobody back there [at third base] and I saw him taking his time so I told myself ‘let’s go, there’s no harm and I can get there’,” Nester said. 

In the bottom of the fifth with two outs, Polk singled on a hard ground ball to second base on an 0-2 count, scoring Pompey with strong base-running and knotting the game up at 2-2.

“I just knew, with two outs and with the ball on the ground, I just had to go so once I saw [Marcus junior second baseman Hank Harp] fall on the ground, I knew I had a chance to score there,” Pompey said. “The feeling was awesome, these are the types of games you play for.”

Nester went five innings, allowing seven hits and three runs with one walk and two strikeouts. Coppell senior right fielder Will Boylan entered in relief and Nester moved to right fielder.

In the top of the 12th, Boylan found himself in his own jam. As Coppell intentionally walked junior right fielder Caden Sorrell, a Texas A&M commit, the Marauders loaded the bases with two outs. Boylan was able to relieve the pressure and work himself out of it as Marcus senior third baseman flew out to Coppell junior centerfielder Zach Darkoch. 

Boylan threw 95 pitches in relief, allowing three hits, striking out seven and walking four over seven innings.

“Boylan was unbelievable,” Howard said. “He was damn near perfect and I am glad he is a Cowboy.”

The Cowboys are now tied with Marcus for first in district play with eight games remaining.

“We have a lot of baseball left to play; everything lies in our own hands moving forward and we want to keep it that way,” Howard said.

Next week, the Cowboys play their Hebron series: Tuesday at CISD Baseball/Softball Complex and Friday at Hebron with first pitch at 7:30 for both games. 

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