Katy takes over first place in district with win over Tompkins

By Tyler Tyre, Sports Editor
Posted 4/5/22

“I think our team may be a little underrated,” Melchor said. “We play really well together. We may not have the biggest guys who are committed to the big schools, but as a team, we play really good together.”

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Katy takes over first place in district with win over Tompkins

Posted

Dominic Melchor had been waiting for his pitch all night.

Katy’s senior center fielder was hitless heading into the sixth inning, but knew exactly what he needed to do when he stepped to the plate with two outs and two runners on base.

Melchor got a fastball in the middle of the zone and drilled a double to center field, scoring both runners and helping Katy to a 5-2 win over Tompkins.

“I was seeing his fastball really well in the zone and I was really just seeing all of his pitches really well,” Melchor said. “He gave me exactly what I wanted down the middle and it gave me the opportunity to put my best swing on it and drive it.”

Katy (20-4, 6-0) and Tompkins (19-1, 5-1) entered Tuesday tied in the district standings and both needed a win to move into first play by themselves in District 19-6A.

It was Katy that stepped up, as the Tigers outhit Tompkins five four and were perfect in the field, making all the difference in the game that was closer than it looked on paper.

“We’ve been doing a lot of practicing on defense and it always pays off,” Melchor said. “Our pitching really trusted our defense and our defense is really really solid, we all trust each other and we all know that we can make the plays when we need to. All of us really complement each other.”

Lucas Moore had a strong outing on the mound, but got off to a shaky start, hitting three Tompkins players in the first two innings but recovering to hold the Falcons scoreless both times.

Moore eventually settled in and didn’t allow any runs over the Tigers first five innings.

“I struggled early in the game, I had a lot of walks and hit batters and wasn’t placing my pitches. The nerves got the best of me,” Moore said. “But when runenrs got on base, I was able to hold the and I made my pitches when I needed to and it counted. I knew I could count on my defense behind me, that’s the key is those guys back there. I knew I could trust every one of them to make a play, it was really a team win tonight.”

Katy got on the board in the third inning, as Melchor scored on a sacrifice fly by Jhonnatan Ferrebus and Grahmam Lanxton also came around to score on a throwing error.

Things stayed that way until the sixth inning, when Katy gave themselves some breathing room.

Ferrebus led off the inning with a single and Cole Kaase walked to put two runners on base. Reese Ruderman followed that up with an RBI single before Melchor came to the plate and hit his two run double to give Katy all the cushion it would need for the rest of the game.

“I think our team may be a little underrated,” Melchor said. “We play really well together. We may not have the biggest guys who are committed to the big schools, but as a team, we play really good together.”

Tompkins did everything it could to force a comeback in the bottom of the sixth. After loading the bases, Judson Collier scored on a passed ball before Ty Dagley also scored on a passed ball. Brayden Powers came on in relief for Katy and closed out the inning before inducing three fly outs in the seventh to secure the Katy win.

“He was great for us, he’s bee like that since he was a freshman,” said Katy head coach Tom McPherson. “He’s coming off tommy john and is just now getting his confidence back. When he has all three of his pitches working, he’s pretty dominant, but tonight, it was just the fastball and he was able to challenge them and get outs. He’s a great kid and it was great to see him be able to close it out.”

Along with putting the Tigers alone atop the district standings, the win also put an end to Tompkins undefeated run to start the season. The Falcons had come into the matchup ranked the No. 1 team in the state.

The two will meet again in the final district game of the season, and that matchup has the potential to decide a district champion depending on how things play out.

“I’m just glad we got the win, McPherson said. “These guys are a really good baseball team and we got the best of them this time, but we’ll get to see them again. It’s always fun with that battle at the top.”

Katy ISD, Katy, Tompkins, Lucas Moore, sports, baseball, district