Sports > Schools
Top Ten Celina Sports Stories of 2012: 7. Perfect when needed: Bobcats win five straight for share of 10-3A title
BY Chris O’Dell, codell@starlocalnews.com
After dropping a March 30 contest to Bonham for their first district loss of the season, the Bobcats had a tough road ahead of them if they were to earn championship honors.
But since the 6-5 loss, Celina has gone 5-0 against 10-3A counterparts and avenged that loss with a 5-0 victory over the Warriors on April 17 that saw senior pitcher Colin Firmin come just one inning away from a perfect game.
The five-game winning streak was then capped off on Friday by the Bobcats run-ruling Commerce for an 18-0 win in five innings.
“We played well in that game,” said James Evans, Celina head coach. “One through nine swung the bat pretty good.”
The team tallied 16 hits in the game, with Landon Lohman accounting for four of them by going 4-for-5 with two doubles at the plate.
Lohman and the rest of the Celina offense allowed senior pitcher Mike Richardson to earn the easy victory on the mound. Richardson tossed five shutout innings, surrendering just two hits while fanning 13 batters.
“The pitching is really coming around,” Evans said.
The win put Celina at 14-6 on the season and ended the team’s district slate with a 7-1 mark. A 7 p.m. meeting against Bonham tonight at Van Alstyne High School will now determine the one seed from 10-3A.
“We’d like to go in as the one seed,” Evans said. “Getting the bye would allow us to get our arms healthy for the playoffs.”
Firmin will likely be on the hill for the game. However, Evans said both of his senior pitchers will be ready to take the mound.
“It’s good to have both of them ready,” he said. “For us to have both of them to go to is really big.”
Although Firmin flirted with perfection in his last outing against Bonham, Evans said the Bobcats aren’t taking the Warriors lightly entering tonight’s matchup.
“Anything can happen on any given day,” he said. “We’re not going to take them lightly at all.”
If the end result of the game is a Celina victory, the Bobcats would earn a first-round bye in the postseason before taking on the winner of Fort Worth Poly Tech and Farmersville.
With a Bonham victory in the contest, Celina would meet Aubrey in the opening round of the playoffs.
“We’ve been playing well the last three or four games,” Evans said. “Our goal is to get better each and every week and I think we’ve done that.”
Time and location of Celina’s postseason opener were not known as of press time.
But since the 6-5 loss, Celina has gone 5-0 against 10-3A counterparts and avenged that loss with a 5-0 victory over the Warriors on April 17 that saw senior pitcher Colin Firmin come just one inning away from a perfect game.
The five-game winning streak was then capped off on Friday by the Bobcats run-ruling Commerce for an 18-0 win in five innings.
“We played well in that game,” said James Evans, Celina head coach. “One through nine swung the bat pretty good.”
The team tallied 16 hits in the game, with Landon Lohman accounting for four of them by going 4-for-5 with two doubles at the plate.
Lohman and the rest of the Celina offense allowed senior pitcher Mike Richardson to earn the easy victory on the mound. Richardson tossed five shutout innings, surrendering just two hits while fanning 13 batters.
“The pitching is really coming around,” Evans said.
The win put Celina at 14-6 on the season and ended the team’s district slate with a 7-1 mark. A 7 p.m. meeting against Bonham tonight at Van Alstyne High School will now determine the one seed from 10-3A.
“We’d like to go in as the one seed,” Evans said. “Getting the bye would allow us to get our arms healthy for the playoffs.”
Firmin will likely be on the hill for the game. However, Evans said both of his senior pitchers will be ready to take the mound.
“It’s good to have both of them ready,” he said. “For us to have both of them to go to is really big.”
Although Firmin flirted with perfection in his last outing against Bonham, Evans said the Bobcats aren’t taking the Warriors lightly entering tonight’s matchup.
“Anything can happen on any given day,” he said. “We’re not going to take them lightly at all.”
If the end result of the game is a Celina victory, the Bobcats would earn a first-round bye in the postseason before taking on the winner of Fort Worth Poly Tech and Farmersville.
With a Bonham victory in the contest, Celina would meet Aubrey in the opening round of the playoffs.
“We’ve been playing well the last three or four games,” Evans said. “Our goal is to get better each and every week and I think we’ve done that.”
Time and location of Celina’s postseason opener were not known as of press time.
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