Tigers top Cinco Ranch, surging early in district play

By Tyler Tyre, Sports Editor
Posted 3/18/22

“I think I just needed to relax a little bit,” Moore said. “This was a pretty big game, I haven’t had a lot of those yet, so I had to settle in, see some strikes and do what I can do.”

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Tigers top Cinco Ranch, surging early in district play

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Katy just seems to find a way.

Finding a way to stay in games, finding a way to manufacture runs, finding a way to have a good performance on the mound even if a pitcher is struggling.

The Tigers just find ways to win.

The Tigers have done it all season and it was no different on Friday, as Katy used a late offensive surge to power past Cinco Ranch 4-1 in a game that could go a long way towards deciding the District 19-6A standings.

“This win was really important for us,” said pitcher Lucas Moore. “We know that both us and Cinco are going to be battling all district and to get a game up on them early is huge. Now we just have to keep this going.”

Moore was a huge part of the teams win, as the junior completely shut down a powerful Cinco Ranch lineup, limiting the Cougars to two its and one run over seven innings while striking out six and walking three.

His off-speed pitches, both his changeup and his curveball, were working all day for him and kept Cinco Ranch off balance, never letting the hitters get comfortable at the plate.

“He was tremendous,” said Katy head coach Tom McPherson. “If you don’t have that off-speed against this lineup, they’re going to wear out that fastball. There’s a lot of guys out there for Cinco that can hit the ball, they have some players. So it was important for him to have that going.”

Moore gave up his only hit and run in the first inning, as the Cougars jumped ahead in the top of the first Brock DeYoung was hit by a pitch to start things and Blake Hansen followed that up with a single to right field, moving DeYoung to third. Charlie Atkinson brought the run in on a sacrifice grounder, but Katy got out of the inning without any more damage thanks to a double play.

Katy tied things up in the second, as Nayden Ramirez reached on an error and scored on a single from Sutton Hull to knot things up at one.

“I think I just needed to relax a little bit,” Moore said. “This was a pretty big game, I haven’t had a lot of those yet, so I had to settle in, see some strikes and do what I can do.”

Things remained tied until the bottom of the sixth, when Katy broke things open. The Tigers got a run when Reese Ruderman reached on an error, and then got two more when Graham Laxton reached on another error on a throw that sailed past the first baseman and into right field to make it 4-1.

Moore then came on in the top of the seventh and calmly induced three fly ball outs to end the game.

This is Moore’s first varsity season, and although the acclimation has been quick, he said that the game is a lot different than what he was used to.

“The atmosphere here just with the varsity squad is totally different and the talent is a lot better,” Moore said. “The defense is a lot better and I’m able to pitch to contact more because of how good the guys are behind me. It’s nice not having to try to strike everybody out.”

While the Tigers have already accumulated a 16-4 record to go with a 2-0 district record, McPherson knows there’s still work to do and knows how important for the team to keep pushing themselves.

“We have to learn not to play to our competition,” that’s the biggest thing. “McPherson said. “We’ve got to keep it up at our level and not play to where our opponents are sometimes. But it’s great just to be in the hunt. We’ll see how this district goes. Taylor is playing great, Seven Lakes is playing great and Tompkins should be No. 1 in the state. You can’t let up because everybody can beat you. We’re right where we need to be we just need to keep it up.”

Katy, Cinco Ranch, Katy ISD, baseball, sports, high school, Logan Moore