(Wimberley) — In a win or go home game, it was the Navarro Panthers who kept their season going with a 4-3 win over the Fredericksburg Billies in a decisive game three of the UIL Class 4A Bi-District round on Saturday in Wimberley.
The Panthers rebounded from a 10-0 game two home loss on Friday to win the series and move on to the Area round. Navarro’s defense and a masterful complete game performance by sophomore Austin Davidson on the mound propelled the Panthers on Saturday afternoon to the next round.
The Billies were able to touch up Davidson for single runs in the first two innings but the Panthers would answer in the third. Back-to-back-to-back singles by Matthew Villanueva, Colt Brown and Caleb Wood accounted for three runs in the inning to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead for Navarro. Davidson, Landun Taylor, Villanueva and Brown all came across home plate in the third to give the Panthers the two-run lead.
The Billies would respond in the fifth with a run, but Navarro would keep the lead thanks to a stellar double play to end the inning. Fredericksburg’s Reed Spies lifted a fly ball to left field with one out and and a runner on third. Navarro’s Gavin Newborg would make the catch and then fire the ball to the infield. Taylor cut the ball off and then threw a strike to the catcher Brown who tagged out the runner attempting to score from third to end the inning and preserve Navarro’s 4-3 lead.
Davidson would get the final six outs in the last two innings. Wood caught a pop fly at second for the final out with a runner at second in the seventh and the Panthers celebrated their Bi-District championship on the infield.
Navarro will play Needville in the Area round this week. The Bluejays took out Iowa Colony, 2-0 in their Bi-District series.
Game one between Navarro and Needville will take place Thursday in Hallettsville. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
Game two is scheduled for Friday evening at 7 p.m. in La Grange. And a game three, if necessary, will take place Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. back in Hallettsville. We will have all the games on KWED.
(Weimar) — In the Class 3A Bi-District round, the Marion Bulldogs fell in their series in three games to Tidehaven in Weimar.
Marion forced a game three with a 10-5 win over the Tigers in game two on Friday afternoon, but the Tigers would win game three 11-5 on Friday night to take the series two games to one.
Evan Gibbons had four hits on Friday and five in the series for the Bulldogs. He also caught every inning of the series behind the plate for Marion.
The Bulldogs finished the season as the District 26-3A champions. They extended their district winning streak to 45 games in 2024. Marion has not lost a district game since 2019.