Broncos advance to semifinals

By Sandy Anderberg, Clarendon Enterprise

The Clarendon Broncos headed to the Regional Semifinals this week after defeating Haskell in Lubbock in the Region I-1A quarterfinals and once again proved that nothing is keeping them down this season.

The Broncs will face Miles Thursday in Lubbock at 6 p.m.

It looked as if Haskell had slammed the door on the first game of the series last Friday when they took a seven nothing lead after two, but they forgot they were playing the Broncos and finally succumbed to a 7-9 loss.

Senior Derrick Shelton had been fairly quiet during the game, but came alive when he needed to help his team gain the two-run advantage for the win. His two-run single sent the Broncos over the top, and they took a one-game advantage in the best two-out-of-three series against Haskell.

Again the Broncos allowed their opponent to get on the board first, and the Mustangs took a 7-0 lead.

“We had more errors, but we did not give up,” Coach Brad Elam said. “We scored in the bottom of the third after Brayden Phillips singled, and Alton Gaines drove him in with a double.”

David Roberts was then able to get Alton and Johnny Gaines home and then came in himself on a hit by Derrick Shelton to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth. The Broncos kept the offense going and got the win.

Defensively, the Broncos were sharp, especially when it counted.

“Josh Krumwiede and Derrick Shelton turned a double play to end the game,” Elam said. “Troy Chambless started the game and pitched really well, striking out nine. Johnny Gaines came in in the sixth to close the game out. And our defense played better after the second inning.”

The next game was do or die for Haskell, but the Broncos were in the driver’s seat, and once again their determination kicked in, and Clarendon prevailed 10-5. The game was close in the first inning at 4-3, but the Broncos hit another gear offensively as they added four more runs in the second.

Haskell did not have an answer for the unstoppable willpower showed by the Broncos. The Clarendon boys racked up 10 hits in the game and only committed three errors. Haskell could only muster five hits and made nine errors in the game.

“We started out on fire for the first time in the playoffs,” Elam said. “We scored eight in the first two innings, and this was the first game in the playoffs we started out with a lead.”

The Broncos scored four in the first inning, and according to Elam, the first four batters reached base and scored. Senior Devin Noble got things rolling with a single, and Phillips followed with another single. Alton Gaines then walked to load the bases, and Johnny Gaines drove in Noble before Roberts, Shelton, and Billy Ceniceros drove in the other runners.

“Phillips started the game and pitched a good first inning,” Elam said. “Johnny then came into the game and gave up only two runs the rest of the game and struck out eight.”
Gaines was able to close out the game.

Earlier last week, the Broncos denied Claude a win by coming back from trailing by three runs in the first two innings of play to end victorious at 8-7.

The Broncos put two runs on the board in the third, one more in the fourth before adding three in the seventh. Sophomore Bradley Watson took his turn at the plate with bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning and slammed a single to score Johnny Gaines, who got the Broncos the one-run advantage.

“We started out bad as we spotted them a three-run lead in the top of the first on some errors,” Elam said. “We were able to add two runs in the third when Josh Krumwiede led off with a double, and Brayden Phillips drove him in with a triple. Then Alton Gaines drove in Phillips on a ground out.”

The Broncos would go on to score again and tie the game when Watson drove in David Roberts. There was yet another lead change when Claude gained a little momentum, but the Broncos stormed back to get the win.

“We had great fan support in Claude,” Elam said. “(We also had) great fan support in Lubbock for the Haskell game.”