Harris County 9-11, Northern 10-12 advance in District 8 tournament

In Wednesday’s games in the District 8 All-Star tournament, four teams faced off with elimination on the line. In the end, two squads moved on with a chance to avenge earlier losses.

Harris County’s 9-11 baseball team and Northern’s 10-12 baseball squad bested their opponents thanks to big offensive outings. Harris County hung five runs on American in the first inning en route to a 16-3 victory, while Northern chipped away at its American opponent before ultimately winning 14-3.

Harris County’s monster inning started in the bottom of the first with a single by Tucker Pate. From there, the offense went all out. Already up 2-0, Pierce Proffitt hit a 2-RBI double that put the team up 4-0. Another run with two outs gave Harris County a commanding 5-0 advantage.

Five more runs in the second put the contest’s outcome out of question.

For Harris County head coach Nick Irvin, the solid start at the plate was the key to the team’s success.

“It was everything,” Irvin said. “We were hot yesterday, and we just came out swinging the bats. That first inning just gave us the momentum to keep going.”

For Northern, its game against American was all about making the most of the opportunities. Head coach Skip Thompson pointed out that the team managed five runs in one inning without a hit, relying solely on heads-up baserunning to light up the scoreboard.

The team did have a three-run home run on its side, but for the most part it was about recognizing the situations and capitalizing.

“Those kind of things, they start adding up,” Thompson said.

Both teams have rematches for their next game, as Northern plays Peach Thursday and Harris County plays 9-11 Northern Friday. Irvin explained Harris County’s loss to Northern got the ball rolling in the team’s solid response.

“We used that as ammunition,” Irvin said, referring to the earlier loss. “We just came back out and played a real good baseball game. When we played them the first time, we were really caught off guard. We were like a deer in the headlights. I think we’ll be good to go when we play them next time.”

Thompson, meanwhile, shared the same mindset about Northern’s second shot at Peach.

“We owe those guys a little something,” Thompson said. “We came out (in that first meeting) and didn’t feel like we played our best. Hopefully tomorrow we get our shot back at them.”

This story was originally published June 28, 2017 at 9:52 PM with the headline "Harris County 9-11, Northern 10-12 advance in District 8 tournament."