(Santa Rosa, Texas)-It took just one moment for longtime head coach, Tony Leal from Santa Rosa High School to resort to his secret bags of tricks. On Thursday night, he pulled off his best hat trick ever to defeat the Monte Alto Blue Devils 12-11 in the one-game playoff, University Interscholastic League Class 3A Bi-District Baseball Championships. In the bottom of the sixth inning, down 11-10, Mikolus Sanchez was walked by the Blue Devils relief pitcher, Julio Marroquin and Leal yelled at his player to continue walking past first base, down the foul line with a runner on third base. With Sanchez standing almost half way to the fence at right field, Monte Alto head coach OJ Gonzales called timeout. The Blue Devils head coach asked the first base umpire why the runner was standing in the out field and the TASO official responded, “he’s still in play” and the game continued. And then it happened. A balk was called, the temptations of chasing out the runner in the outfield did not happen, a passed ball on the Blue Devils catcher scores Luis Trevino to tie the game, the runner standing at the right field baseline takes second and third. He would score on another passed ball at the plate to make it 12-11. “This was a crazy night,” said Warriors 6’4″ first baseman David Bazaldua. “Our coach is a crazy guy with his play calling.” The senior had a big night with a triple, double, and a single, including four base hits to lead his Warriors to the next round against Bishop or Goliad in the 3A Area Baseball Championships. “I still have some plays left in the bag,” said Leal.
