The Central Heights High School baseball team is co-champion in district with Diboll High School. A game will be held April 29th at Angelina College to determine who will be seeded first for playoffs. Though this game is not considered a tiebreaker, in the minds of the players and fans, it is.

Things are heated between the two teams. In the first game against Diboll, Central Heights fell short of a win, but came back and won 1-0 in the next game. Central Heights is fighting to keep their 13-year district champion title, while Diboll is ready to take it from them. 

“Anything that could’ve gone wrong the first game went wrong,” catcher Ashton Wagner said. “Our defense had numerous errors and we struggled hitting the ball.”

Diboll would have scored less than half the points they earned if the boys did not have any errors. The Central Heights boys got into their own heads after the first couple of errors and seemed to have given up not even halfway through the game. 

“In the tiebreaker game we have to eradicate our errors and minimize our strikeouts,” left fielder Cameron Buettner said. “It’s going to be a tough battle, but as long as we stay up and don’t get down on ourselves, we will have a great chance at winning the game.”

The boys had a hard time facing Diboll’s ace pitcher, but are ready for revenge. Between all the trash talk and people doubting the team, they are prepared for the battle. 

“We went into the first game thinking we had it in the bag and didn’t take it as seriously as we should’ve, causing us to lose focus,” pitcher only Nick West said. “The second time around we went into it knowing everything was on the line, including our district title. We also had our pitchers back the entire game.”

There was an error in center field for Central Heights while Diboll had the tying run on first base. The center-fielder did not let an error stop him from throwing the ball in and getting the run out at home. 

“First I thought to myself, how did I miss that ball, and I was so disappointed in myself thinking I let the team down,” center field Cade York said. “I knew I had to quickly recover and throw the ball in to our second basemen, who then relayed it to the catcher and we got the out at home. After the out was made, I felt so much better and my confidence increased knowing that I did not let my team down.” 

The boys are hyped and have a lot of drive going into the final game. Central Heights has been the champions for years, so the team has a lot to say about some new competition.

“Diboll doesn’t like us because we are so good. No team likes competitors that blow out every team each game,” first basemen Jackson Mills said. “Diboll just happens to be decent this year so they are hungry for the title that we’ve had for 13 years, but at the end of the day Diboll is booboo.”

Bryce Payne, pitcher and shortstop, almost had a complete game in the second game against Diboll. He reached the max pitches he could pitch and got his complete game taken from him because of a questionable call by the umpire. 

“I was beyond stoked that on the last call of the game the umpire didn’t ring the batter up,” pitcher Bryce Payne said. “I pitched 6.2 innings and the whole team was so hyped that we were about to beat one of the top teams in the state, but Mills came in after me and threw one pitch and got the third out. It was one of the most fun games I have ever played in my life.” 

Excited is an understatement for how the boys feel about the opportunity to break the tie, though both teams will continue to share the title. 

 “I can’t wait to crush Diboll this Friday,” third basemen Luke Taylor said. “We have put a lot of work into practicing and are stirred up and ready for the challenge.”