During a two-game tournament event on Monday and Tuesday, the Cypress Christian Warriors battled against weather delays and two formidable opponents in Geneva School and McKinney Christian. After a scoreless first inning against the Geneva Eagles, Cypress Christian took a 5-1 lead in the second inning when Beckett Swinney and Gavin Gray singled, Brody Tucker, Ameron Sheikh and Drew Mestayer walked and Zach Thibodeaux doubled. The two teams didn’t allow any further runs until Geneva tied up the game in the top of the sixth inning. Jacob Lukaszewski pitched an impressive first five innings giving up one unearned run on three hits and four walks while striking out six. Warren Haudek took the mound in the seventh inning to finish the game, allowing zero hits and zero runs while walking one and striking out two. In the final at bat, the Warriors started off with a strikeout but then earned walks for the next three batters, which loaded the bases. This set up the dramatic ending to the game, when Swinney hit a walk-off single to win the semi-final match up.
The state final game pitted the Warriors against the McKinney Mustangs who seemed hot offensively right from the start. While their first run was answered by a CCS run in the top of the second, the ‘Stangs then plated four in response. Cypress scored only one in the third, and McKinney struck again in the fourth – leaving the Warriors down 2-6. The fifth inning proved to be the turning point of the game when CCS scored seven unanswered runs. Both teams scored one run each in the sixth and went scoreless in the seventh, leaving the final score at 10-7. Mestayer and Haudek were the pitchers of record for the game, with Haudek earning the win. The Warriors collected 13 hits overall. Mestayer, Tyler Bienko, Gray, Haudek and Williams each managed multiple hits. Cypress Christian was sure-handed and didn’t commit a single error. Mestayer made the most plays with six. CCS stole five bases during the game as Mestayer and Thibodeaux each led the way with two.
As an added bonus to the day, Lukaszewski, Swinney, Thibodeaux and Williams were each named to the TAPPS Division 3 All Tournament State Team. Congrats to the 2023 CCS Varsity Warrior baseball team!
The team’s perseverance and a “row the boat” mentality led them to the baseball program’s third state title.
Houston Chronicle Article – TAPPS state roundup: Cypress Christian wins baseball, softball titles (houstonchronicle.com)
