For the second consecutive week, the North Forney Falcons had their district 13-5A series split into two separate weeks due to inclement weather. This time, the Falcons would face off against the Crandall Pirates in a home game to complete their two-game series on Monday, April 26, before taking on the Greenville Lions in games scheduled for Tuesday and Friday to complete the regular season.
When the week ended, the Falcons had again played only two games, one each against Crandall (4-9 in district, 9-20 overall) and Greenville, due to rain again on Friday night. The Falcons came away winning both and improving to 12-1 in district and 27-4-1 overall. With the wins, the Falcons, ranked 20th in the state by Texas High School Baseball and 4th in the area by the Dallas Morning News, moved within one win of capturing the first district baseball title in the school’s history.
Cole Cather and JJ Humes led the way for the Falcons in the Monday night home game against the Pirates, a 6-0 shutout win. Cather followed his 3-3, 3 RBI night at Crandall with another 3-3, 3 RBI night in the return game, and Humes went 2-4 with 2 RBI and two runs scored.
Humes’ first inning single drove in Juan Cantua, who had drawn a walk and advanced to third on two wild pitches before Humes’ single to left field. Humes would come around to score two batters later when Cather drove a Landon Phillips pitch back up the middle into centerfield.
Humes and Cather would drive in two more runs, pushing the Falcons’ lead to 4-0 in the third inning. The speedy Cantua rifled a ball down the right field line for a triple to open the inning and was driven home by Humes, who laced Phillips’ 1-0 pitch into left field for his second single of the night. Jorge Herrera sacrificed Humes to third, and he would score on a line drive single off the bat of Cather.
The Falcons put another run on the board, extending their lead to 5-0 in the fourth inning, as Nick Gray singled with two outs and scored on a wild pitch.
The final Falcons’ run would come courtesy of Cather’s third single of the game in the fifth inning. Herrera opened the inning with a low line drive into right field that skipped by a diving Mason Daugherty and into the corner. Herrera raced around to third and came home on Cather’s base hit to centerfield.
Cole Lancaster, the area leader in ERA (0.20), had another brilliant outing on the mound. Lancaster limited the Pirates to one hit, a seventh-inning ground ball that found its way past the glove of third baseman Garrett Williams in the shutout win. He struck out 10 Pirates on the night, giving him 57 for the season.
It was Senior Night on Tuesday, April 27, and senior Cole Cather stayed hot in the Falcons’ 10-0 win over the Greenville Lions. Cather was 2-3, a fourth inning groundout breaking his streak of 11 consecutive atbats with a base hit, and had five RBI. In the Crandall series and the first Greenville game, Cather combined to go 8-9 with 11 RBI.
Juan Cantua contributed four RBI of his own against the Lions, who fell to 2-11 in district and 5-20-1 overall.
North Forney plated two runs in the bottom of the first inning as Nick Gray singled and Cantua was hit by pitch. A double steal moved the two to third and second before Cather singled with two outs to drive them in.
Four more runs would score in each of the second and third innings as the Falcons extended their lead to 10-0.
Garrett Williams walked to open the second and stole second. Graham Danziger followed with a ground ball to shortstop Dawson Diggs, who attempted to cut Williams down advancing to third. His throw hit Williams and bounced harmlessly into foul territory, allowing Danziger to advance to second.
Walks to Gray and Cantua drove in one run, and the bases were cleared when Cather lined a pitch deep into the left field corner.
Elian Gonzales opened the third inning with a ground ball that bounced off Lions’ first baseman Hunter Waters for an error before Williams was hit by a pitch. Danziger followed by beating out a slow chopper to third baseman Jacson Cathey for a base hit. Cathey’s throw pulled Waters off the bag allowing Casey Clemo, running for Gonzales, to score on the play, and Williams moved to third.
Williams, Danziger and Gray, who walked, would all score on Cantua’s double to centerfield making the score 10-0.
In recognition of the Falcons’ nine seniors and one early graduate, all playing their final home game at North Forney, the Falcons played the final two innings with those players on the field.
Preston Crow started and picked up his eighth victory of the season for the Falcons. Crow went three innings, giving up no runs or hits, while striking out seven Lions before giving way to senior Tyler Reed, who pitched a scoreless fourth frame. Jayden Olsen, another senior, closed out the game by walking the first batter he faced before striking out the side in the fifth.
After all district games were cancelled on Friday night, the Falcons were closely watching the score at Royse City as the Bulldogs took on the Highland Park Scots in their final district game on Saturday morning. A Royse City win would have clinched the district title for North Forney.
However, HP scored five runs in the third inning on their way to a 7-0 victory.
The Scots’ win meant the Falcons needed to win their game scheduled for Monday, May 3, at Greenville to take the district title. A loss would create a tie between North and HP at the top of the district standings. Playoffs are scheduled to begin Friday, May 7, with North Forney, Highland Park, Royse City and Forney all advancing from District 13- 5A.
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