Baseball: Caney Creek clinches playoff berth

CONROE, Texas – The Caney Creek High School baseball team clinched a playoff spot last week with back-to-back wins over Magnolia West and Waller.

The Panthers (15-12, 10-5) will be making their first trip to the postseason since 2007. They close the 2013 regular season at Brenham (7 p.m. Friday) before taking on District 17-4A champion Georgetown Eagles in the first round of the playoffs.

Caney Creek joins District 18-4A playoff teams Montgomery (24-4, 13-2), which is currently on 10-game win streak, Brenham (22-9, 12-3) and Magnolia (19-9, 12-3), which is currently on a seven-game win streak.

The Panthers have won their last three games and four of the last five to clinch the fourth and final playoff berth from District 18-4A.

Caney Creek jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held off Magnolia West 3-2 on Friday before blanking Waller 2-0 on Saturday. Kevin Jolly and Dylan Enriquez had two hits apiece in the win over Magnolia West. Enriquez leads the team with a .348 batting average.

Jolly drove in all three runs while Adam Vento doubled and scored a run and Kadon Simmons (.342) singled and scored twice. He leads the team with 21 RBI.

Simmons (6-2, 2.05 ERA) went the distance on the mound, scattering five hits while striking out five and yielding just one earned run. The senior pitcher did not walk a batter.

Senior Kyle Baird (6-3, 3.91 ERA) followed up the next day with a one-hit shutout of Waller. Baird struck out three and at the plate also drove in a run. He leads the team with 31 hits (.341, 20 RBI).

Enriquez had two of Caney Creek’s four hits. Simmons added a hit and scored a run. Vento also had a hit while Morgan Mason drove in a run and Justin Wilkinson scored a run.

Saturday was Senior Night for the Panthers and the parents, coaches and players celebrated the class of 2013 before the game in a ceremony where the parents had the honor of throwing out the first pitches. At the end of the game, parents crowded around the dugout to take photos of the players and continued celebrations of the playoff berth.

With still two games remaining on the district schedule, Georgetown (23-6, 12-0) has already clinched the league title. This will be the Eagles’ seventh playoff appearance in the last eight seasons. They were region finalists in 2007 and 2008.