It’s been an up and down year for Katy.

The Tigers led District 19-6A for much of the year but there were times when mistakes would come back to bite them, whether it be inconsistency on offense or other areas of the field.

The Tigers (20-10, 13-3) dropped an important series  late in district to Cinco Ranch, but they bounced back and still had a chance to achieve one of their big goals, which they did on Friday, clinching a share of the District 19-6A championship and the second seed out of district with a sweep of Taylor (21-12-1, 11-5), beating the Mustangs 11-0 in the teams final district game.

“It’s a big step for us to get this second seed,” said Katy head coach Wes Hearne. “We finished third last year and went on a big run and we are going to have to go through a tough bracket again. The kids are excited though and we just have to get ready.”

The Tigers got some much needed momentum from their two games against Taylor. Katy came into the week with the possibility of finishing first or falling as far as fourth in district. The Tigers two wins secured  second in district as they closed out district in emphatic fashion on Friday.

Katy got to work right away in the first inning. Connor Udland worked himself out a jam in the top of the inning, overcoming allowing two runners on with one out to get out of it unscathed, and then the offense had a very strong bottom half of the inning. Katy loaded the bases and got a run on a bases loaded walk to take the lead, which chased Taylor’s starting pitcher from the game early. An error then gave the Tigers two more runs before Jeremy Mazariegos singled in a fourth to give Katy an early advantage.

Katy added on in the fifth, getting a run on a bases loaded walk and then getting another on an Ashten Ballew single before three more runs scored errors, AJ Atkinson then hit a single that drove in a run and made it 10-0 after three, with the Tigers scoring their 11^th in the fourth inning on an Aiden Schipper sacrifice fly.

“It was so big for us to finish off district this way and have good performances against a good Taylor team,” said junior pitcher Connor Udland. “I think that it’s just going to elevate how we play in the playoffs, I can’t wait for it.”

Udland had a huge day on the mound for Katy to continue his monster season. The junior pitched all five innings and struck out six while allowing just three hits and walking three in the win.

“He’s such a quiet guy, but when he gets up there, he’s a different guy. He has such a fire to him,” Hearne said. “He’s a guy that throws a lot of strikes and doesn’t walk people. That’s half the battle for pitchers and we’re just fortunate to have a guy like that.”

The Tigers next step is to be ready for the playoffs. It’s something this group is familiar with, going to the regional semifinals and the regional final in the past two years, but every player knows they will have to continue to improve to reach that level again.

“The guys are finally starting to have good at bats offensively and grind things out, see pitches and do the right things,” Hearne said. “We’ve talked about it a lot this season and these guys are doing it now. We just have to keep getting better at that and work up pitch counts. We’re going to get into a schedule of getting these guys ready for the playoffs and see where it takes us.”