KILGORE — Behind a no-hitter tossed by Carson Wallace and a walk-off by Mason Clark, Harleton downed the Alba-Golden Panthers, 10-0, in five innings to earn the title of area champions at Driller Park.
The Harleton student section showed up in full force, banging on trash cans and making as much noise as possible while cheering “feral mongoose” in support of Wallace and cheering every player when he was up to bat.
Wallace asserted his dominance on the mound early. Despite the mound being a bit wet and having to adjust his leg kick, and after allowing a leadoff walk, he picked off the batter at first and struck out the following two to face the minimum.
“This was the first time this year [Wallace] was pitching on a dirt mound. We’ve been pitching off turf all year, and he kind of struggled a little bit,” said Harleton coach DJ Beck. “He said his back foot was hanging up, but once he got that figured out, he shortened his stride a little bit to help him get over the top a little bit more. He was able to find the zone a lot better after that.”
The Wildcats found themselves on the board first after a double to left field by Wallace brought in Caleb Correa to give them a 1-0 lead.
Wallace went one-two-three in the second inning to bring up the Wildcat offense.
Buddy Nipp set up the offense with a single and was brought in on a RBI-double by Caden Rhodes. Gage Shirts was hit-by-pitch on what would’ve been ball four. Correa reached on an infield single and headed to second base after an error to bring in Rhodes and Shirts gave Harleton a 4-0 lead.
Wallace drove another double to left-center field to bring in Correa, and Lucas Townlin grounded a RBI-single to give Harleton a 6-0 lead and conclude the five-run second inning.
The pitching for the Panthers and the Wildcats stayed strong for the third and fourth innings with Harleton having the advantage in the fifth.
Rhodes started off the inning with a hit-by-pitch; Shawn Booth followed with a single, and a bunt by Shirts juiced the bases for Correa. Correa followed up Shirts’ bunt with one of his own to bring in Rhodes. Wallace grounded out, but Booth found his way home. Now, it was up to Clark to be the hero and send the Panthers packing.
After getting so close to a fair ball down the first base line earlier in the game, Clark ripped one right over the first baseman’s head for a two-RBI single and secured the walk-off victory and area championship for Harleton.
“I think [Alba-Golden] knows the top of our lineup is pretty dangerous, so they’re going to find ways to try and get us to ground out. They started throwing me a lot of curveballs, and I started to pick up on that. They also tried to quick pitch me. I was throwing my hand up in the box, and the ball was already at my head,” Clark said with a chuckle, “He kept throwing me outside, and I looked over at Coach [Todd] Hammock, and he was like chop it down like an axe, and I chopped down, and it was right over the first baseman’s head. It got the job done, and to be able to get us the win in five innings was amazing.”
The majority of Harleton’s hits went opposite field. Instead of focusing on the pull side, Beck emphasized how important it was for his players to mix it up at the plate and hit the ball where defenses won’t necessarily be expecting it.
“Our guys are hitting the ball the other way, so that means we are doing out job offensively because we’ve really worked on that a lot throughout the year,” he said. “In the beginning, we struggled and were not able to do that and were rolling over, but we’re starting to come on a little bit. It’s not where I would like it to be, but we try to be as perfect as possible.”
This was not Wallace’s first no-hitter of the playoffs. He pitched 6.1 innings of no-hit baseball this past week against Corsicana Mildred in the bi-district round and followed up with five innings of no-hit baseball against Alba-Golden.
The special connection Wallace has with his catcher in Clark dates back to childhood, when their chemistry started.
“What goes differently between Carson and I as a pitcher-catcher duo is we’ve grown up together and playing on the same teams all the way through high school,” Clark said. “With the sun in the beginning, I knew I was struggling really hard to even see a fastball or a curveball, and I just had faith in him that he was going to hit a spot, and I put my glove out there and he did it. I was able to keep everything in front.”
“Last week I threw a no-hitter, so throwing one back-to-back is a really cool moment,” Wallace said. “The energy in the stands and energy in my body kept me rolling batter after batter. Both teams were struggling with seeing the ball, and Mason told me he was having trouble seeing it so I told him, ‘Hey man, we have to do what we have to do,’ and we figured it out. Hopefully I can go out and throw one again next week.”
Wallace pitched a complete five inning game allowing no hits, walking two and striking out 11. He also went 2-4 at the plate with two doubles and three RBIs. Clark went 1-2 with two RBIs and the walk-off single. Rhodes went 1-2 with a RBI.
Harleton awaits the winner of Centerville and Garrison for a regional semifinals matchup.