HS Baseball Playoffs: Conroe Ends Historic Season With Tough Game Three Loss

KYLE, TX -- The Conroe Tigers' history-making season ended with a bitter 5-2 loss to the Midway Panthers in the Regional Semifinals on a sweltering Saturday afternoon.

Conroe had battled during game two of the series on Friday to force the winner-takes-all scenario, but a fiery Midway squad returned to a form that harkened back to their dominant Thursday win.

The Panthers were quick on the gas, accelerating out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. An RBI in the third at-bat got the team on the board before a two-run homer over the centerfield fence quickly set the score.

Frequent changes on the mound for Conroe demonstrated the team’s push to end the series through a repeat defensive performance, but three different arms through three innings handicapped the team’s ability to settle into a groove.

Midway only made the situation worse by adding another two runs in the top of the third, making it a 5-0 deficit that Conroe had to try to battle out of.

In an exclusive interview with The Woodlands Online Sports, Conroe Head Coach Jeff Raymer discussed the team’s grit during tough situations.

“We have core values that we live by in the program, and one of those core values is toughness,” explained Raymer. “Our definition of toughness is having an attitude of intensity when things get bad, and these guys have lived that out for the entire season.”

Even with the deficit and lackluster hitting working against them, the Tigers continued to scrap for any meaningful momentum they could build in the hopes of eating into the Panther lead.

Four straight innings of hitting resulting in no runs led to a fifth inning that demonstrated Conroe’s fight against the grain. A walk drawn by Jackson Reagan got the gears turning with one out before a deep shot from Tanner Trantham scaled the outfield fence for a two-run home run.

The sudden spark reinvigorated the previously silent Tiger fans and dugout, providing a glimpse of the mentality that had pushed Conroe on their historic postseason run.

“I am proud of this team. Even today, they go down early and never gave up at any moment,” said Raymer. “We kept fighting and gave ourselves a chance.”

Unfortunately for the Tigers, the runs came too late for the spark to become a flame.

The unrelenting heat from the Central Texas sun paired with a strong defensive push from the Panthers to end the game without any additional runs surrendered. A total of four strikeouts through the last two Conroe innings spelled the end to a magical run for the Tigers, closing the game in a 5-2 defeat.

Despite the sting of defeat fresh in the minds of the Tiger players and fans, Raymer emphasized the history the team had made to reach this series and how it provides a beacon for what the program can continue to achieve.

“What this senior class has done for us is it’s given us an expectation and a standard,” said Raymer. “Going into the offseason, it's going to permeate through the whole program by them knowing what's possible if you buy into core values that we teach as a coaching staff.”

The history of breaking over 30 years of playoff droughts was built, in Raymer’s mind, on the shoulders of a senior class and a program that has put in the work to better themselves and the program they represent.

“It’s something I told my seniors, it’s going to live long after they leave this campus,” said Raymer. “When they come back and see the success that this program will continue to have, it's going to be in large part because of the work and effort they put into it.”

Photos