GC Baseball: Kerens' wild, wonderful ride in the playoffs moves on with a bond for the ages

May 20—KERENS — It's not the tacos at Dairy Queen. It's not the newly dyed blonde hair, and it's not Kooper Hill's frenetic and energetic — and sometimes funny — impromptu pregame pep talks.

Sure, all of those things have become a part of the Kerens Bobcats' wild, wonderful ride through the baseball playoffs, but at the heart of this team — at it's very core there is so much more.

"We trust each other," said Ryan Priddy, a senior outfielder who echoed how every player on this team feels.

Priddy and the others embody that feeling, embracing how the players trust each other and believe in each other.

"Most of us have known each other since T-Ball," said Lane Lynch, a four-year starter and leader for Kerens. "We grew up together."

And now these kids have made history together. No Kerens baseball team had ever reached the Clas 2A Region III Semifinals until the 2024 Bobcats knocked off Beckville last week to climb up to that rung on the playoff ladder.

"We made history," said Lynch, with a mile-wide smile on his face. He was smiling for every player on the team.

The victory over Beckville was not just history-making. It was something special. It was Beckville that broke Kerens' heart a year ago, winning a tough, intense best-of-three series in the Region III Quarterfinals.

That loss hurt — and the pain lingered.

"The bus was silent on the way home after that game," said Kerens Coach Cole Lancaster.

Lynch added: "Beating them, that was the best feeling we've had this year. We all remember how that felt when we lost last year. It stuck in our minds and it made us hungrier."

They've been well-fed with a steady diet of shutouts.

The Ritchie Twins — Krayton and Kannon — have been phenomenal. In their past 20 starts, including six in the playoffs, where the Twins have allowed just one run — and that came in Game 2 against Beckville when the Bearcats scored in the top of the second.

The Kerens kids responded immediately, scoring two runs in the bottom of the second. Then Kannon took over and slammed the door, tossing five shutout innings to complete his two-hitter in a 5-1 Kerens' win to send the Bobcats to the Region Semifinals against Shelbyville this week.

The Ritchies did not give up a run in Kerens' 14-0 district season and they allowed only one hit (a single) in the Bi-District sweep over Price Carlisle with a one-hitter by Krayton and a no-hitter by Kannon.

Krayton opened the Area Round series against Linden-Kildare with a perfect game — it was his second perfect game in three starts, including a perfect day in his final district game against Cross Roads.

Then Kannon went 6.2 innings before Krayton struck out the final batter in a combined no-hitter to sweep L-K. That's a 4-0 start with the Twins allowing just a single base hit in Game 1 of the playoffs. Then they swept Beckville with a three-hit shutout by Krayton and a two-hitter by Kannon, who needed only 92 pitches (59 strikes) to end Beckville's season.

Since the start of district play on March 9, Kerens has won 20 games in a row, including 18 Ritchie shutouts and a forfeit. Neches scored two runs against Kerens on March 19 in a Mercy-Rule 14-2 romp by the Bobcats, but those runs did not come against the Ritchies.

"The ball just jumps out of their hand," Lancaster said of his 1-2 punch on the mound.

He could have added, if the right one don't get you, the left one will (Google Tennessee Ernie Ford), because Kannon's a southpaw and Krayton's a right-hander.

Kannon is 11-0 with a 0.29 ERA and Krayton is 11-3 with a 0.56 ERA for the season. They have combined to strike out 267 batters in just 134 innings, including 73 (12.1 per game) in 42 innings in the playoffs. Neither has given up an extra base hit this year (Someone call Ripley's).

And they both hit. Kannon (.375) plays first and Krayton (.299) plays third when they're not striking batters out.

No one believes the blonde hair had anything to do with spotless playoff run on the mound, but the Ritchie Twins did dye their hair blonde just before the postseason began. Baseball is full superstitions but that has nothing to do with Kerens' success. Neither does the fact that Kooper Hill's parents have been eating tacos at Dairy Queen before every playoff game. But it's a lot of fun.

It's not a superstition, but the Kerens players give Kooper Hill a lot of credit for his pre-game pep talks. Kooper is just being Kooper.

"He just has so much energy and he gives us energy," Lynch said. "He's funny and energetic and just gets us going with his pep talks before the game. You never know what he's going to say."

It all helps. It's a pressure-packed grind to win a state title in Texas, where it takes seven rounds of success to capture a championship. For instance, in Florida and in Georgia you can win a state title in five rounds, and in those states most playoff matches are one-and-done showdowns. Some states it's even fewer rounds to a state title, but not for Kerens, which now needs two more series to reach Round Rock and the Final Four.

Kerens has played three consecutive best-of-three series, and swept all three, and plays Shelbyville in a best-of-three series this week with all the games at Madisonville, beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday. Friday is an off day, because rain is in the forecast Thursday and if Game 1 gets postponed they will play on Friday. Game 2 and (if needed) 3 will be Saturday, beginning at 4 p.m.

Kerens has had a lot of baseball success in recent years. Coach Jayson Engel had some incredibly talented Kerens teams — teams that went unbeaten in district from 2016 through 2018 — ripping off a three-year 42-game district winning streak and had good runs in the playoffs — just never like this run.

Engel's teams produced a long list of All-Staters, including his son, Tate, who was a four-time All-State player. But the playoffs come with hard, rough edges and upsets rattle hopes and dreams all over Texas every spring.

Engel just smiles when you mention the 2024 Bobcats.

"Man, they are fun to watch,"" he said.

Lancaster knows the history and appreciates it.

"I feel like I'm just continuing what Jayson started," Lancaster said. But he admits this has been a ride of a lifetime.

"It's been fun, just being on this run," said Lancaster, a down-to-earth, no-nonsense, no hyperbole coach. "I've never been a part of anything like this."

Lancaster admits there's pressure, but he also knows how his kids responded early in the season when nothing went right. Believe it or not the Bobcats started 2024 with a 4-4 record, struggling in two pre-district tournaments.

After a loss in their second tournament, Lancaster set his team down and had a passionate talk about where they were and where they wanted to be.

His words carried a ton of weight and hit every player on the team. Since that day, Kerens has gone 21-1, including a perfect record in district. They're 25-5 to start the next round of the playoffs this week.

They've had stars and heroes from every corner of the diamond, including Matt Rickard, a huge clutch hitter who's hitting .375 and has produced 28 RBIs, and scored a team-leading 31 runs.

There's Andy Conklin, a junior and another key hitter in the lineup who is hitting .300. Of course, there's Hill, who doesn't just energize the Bobcats — he's hitting .304.

And there's Adrian Solis, one of three senior leaders, who is a slick fielding, base stealing, run scoring (he's is fourth on the team in runs with 25) threat and an invaluable part of the Bobcats. The other seniors are Priddy, who makes plays in the outfield and has come through all year, and Lynch.

There's JJ Hightower, an anchor at first base with a vacuum for a glove and Muziq Gunnell a speedy, reliable outfielder and one of the top athletes in the Golden Circle.

Lynch has played everywhere for Kerens over his career and is now the Kerens catcher and senior leader behind and in front of the plate, where he catches the Ritchies and leads the team in hitting (.405), hits (33), doubles (11) and home runs, and is tied for the lead in RBIs (28),

The kids on this team are talented, modest and hard working — a mirror of their coach and the pride of their community. Just about everyone in Kerens is talking about the Bobcats, but when the players talked to the Daily Sun they talked about each other and what the team means ...

That may be their greatest weapon — and that's no superstition.