Corsicana's Tigers might not have had their backs to the wall, but if they turned around, they could see the distance was shrinking fast.
Then they shocked the teams in the District 15-5A race Tuesday, knocking off then-unbeaten first-place Midlothian 4-0 at Price Field, where Isaiah "Poncho" Miranda threw a masterpiece, pitching seven scoreless innings and allowing just six hits, including five singles, while striking out nine in what was arguably his best game in this three years with the Tigers.
Poncho punched out the Panthers and lifted the Tigers in front of a big crowd at Price, where the Tiger Faithful have seen Heath Autrey's teams rally in the stretch run of seasons before. Tuesday's huge victory might just ignite such a rally down the stretch for a Tiger team that has been up and down in the district race this spring and sits in fifth place at 5-4 with five games left, beginning in Midlothian Friday night.
The Tigers play Red Oak (6-3 in district) twice next week and face Ennis (6-3) twice in the final week of district play.
They looked unbeatable Tuesday with Poncho on the mound and a lineup that was hungry to score early. That's exactly what Autrey's Tigers did as they jumped on Midlothian with two runs in the first and two more in the second and played tough and and tight defense the rest of the way.
Connor Perkins started the Tigers with a leadoff single in the first inning, and the feeling was different all night for a Tiger team that has lost two close games that had that shoulda, coulda woulda feeling about them.
Not Tuesday night, not in front of a Tiger crowd that loved every minute and showed it on every one of Corsicana's nine hits.
Perkins, who will pitch Friday in Midlothian, went 3-for-4 to set the tone with a double and scored the first run of the night, and Easton Autrey, who has seen one team after another pitch around his big bat, went 2-for-3, scored and drove in a run as the 1-2 top of the order couldn't wait any longer to lift the Tigers.
But Perkins and Autrey weren't alone. The Tigers got key hits from Jordan Tamez, who went 2-for-4 and crucial RBIs from Sean Medrano, Trenton Burton and Gabe Sodd on a night when every run seemed to count for so much more.
Obviously, this was a big win for the Tigers, who played that good-old-fashioned brand of Wolfpack Baseball Tuesday on a night when it couldn't have felt better to win, and left Price Field looking forward to a stretch run.
