Katy came up four wins short of their ultimate goal this year.

From the start of the year the Tigers had a mission to make it to Round Rock and claim their first state championship.

Katy nearly found a way to get there, battling through a loaded district and playoff schedule to make it all the way to the Region III Final and giving Pearland all it could handle over two games. Behind it all was a determined senior class that refused to ever give in and fought tooth and nail to get as far as they did this season.

“Without those seniors, we’re not here, we would not have done what we just did,” said Katy head coach Wes Hearne. “It has nothing to do with me and everything to do with them. I couldn’t ask for a better group, I’m proud of the entire team, but I could not be more proud of this senior class. They showed how to lead, how to grind and how to go about their business. Hopefully these young guys learned a lot from them because they taught me a lot.”

The 11 seniors for the Tigers created a new standard in a baseball program that already had high standards. After reaching the regional semifinals last season the seniors weren’t satisfied, they set their sights on something higher and this season helped Katy reach the regional finals for the first time since 2006.

“This senior class was really special and I’m proud that I’m part of it,” said senior pitcher Lucas Moore. “it was special to be in the dugout with all of them, to practice with them every day and to overcome everything we have overcome.”

The Tigers overcame that adversity through hard work all season, as they came to battle every practice and worked to raise the standard to even higher levels. The hope for every senior on the team is that the underclassman can take the reins and finish what these seniors started.

“Last year we started with raising that standard by getting to the fourth round,” Moore said. “We just raised it even higher this year and I know that’s the goal for these guys coming up to keep doing that. There’s only one place for them to go now and that’s to make it to Round Rock and win the whole thing.”

The run was a magical one for the seniors, but also gave an opportunity for the underclassman to experience the high pressures of playoff baseball, which they thrived under. Katy will be losing big members of their team, as seven starters will graduate and each of the teams three main starting pitchers will depart as well.

But they have people to step up in those shoes, with the underclassman pitchers ready to take the next step and depth both on varsity and beyond, as Katy’s JV and sophomore teams both won district championships this year.

“I have to give so much credit to Coach (Tom) McPherson for building this program to where he left it,” Hearne said. “I was fortunate enough to step in to this special place as head coach this year. We’re going to be counting on these young guys, but I know they can step up. These young pitchers are phenominal and we have some guys coming back who have incredible talent. We’ll scrap and claw and we will do everything in our power to try and get back here again next year.”