ABILENE — It’s not atypical for Brady Webb to lose sleep this time of year.
Even after a win — like Thursday’s series opener — the New Home baseball coach is used to tossing and turning the night before a game.
The predicament keeping Webb awake Friday night was the impending Game 3 against Tom Bean that determined a spot in the state championship. Fifteen innings of work stretched the Leopards’ bullpen.
It may not equate to more shuteye, but New Home gave its coach reason to relax Saturday.
The Leopards won the war of attrition, downing the Tomcats 18-6 in five innings at Crutcher Scott Field. New Home will return to the Class 2A Division I title game on the back of a three-pitcher effort closed by Brock Bessire.
The junior threw two scoreless innings to finish it, allowing one hit with two strikeouts and no walks.
Even with the all-hands-on-deck approach, Bessire wasn’t sure his number would be called. That didn’t stop him from wrapping up the 2-hour, 42-minute affair that featured eight pitchers. He was the only hurler on either team who didn’t allow a run.
“I knew we were going to have to have a lot of guys step up,” Bessire said. “I was just making sure that I was ready for it.”
Webb knew he had options, even if they hadn’t pitched in a month. The coach prepared as many pitchers as he could during the year knowing a scenario like Saturday’s could be in play. He felt there were a couple more arms at his disposal had the game called for them.
“Our Monday routine is everybody who didn’t pitch the weekend before … got a (bull)pen in,” Webb said. “Credit to the boys doing a great job with their pens, showing up here ready to go, after some of them haven’t pitched in a month and a half.
“They came out here and threw strikes and gave us a chance to win.”
Tom Bean, which forced the finale with a 6-5, eight-inning win in Game 2, didn’t handle the challenge as well. The Tomcats went through five pitchers Saturday, making their first change nine pitches in. Tom Bean walked 14 batters and plunked two others.
The Leopards notched eight hits and took advantage of three errors to post at least two runs in each inning.
Bransen Beckham put the game in run-rule territory with a three-run double in the fourth. He started for New Home and threw three innings. After a 1-2-3 frame to open the game, Beckham pitched with a lead the rest of the way.
Webb was ready with the pitch counts for everyone else. Even if a player had 15 pitches remaining, he was in consideration.
New Home won’t have to worry about that any longer. The Leopards (29-8) will face Iola (26-4) in the winner-take-all state championship at 9 a.m. Thursday at Dell Diamond in Round Rock. It’s the sixth time since 2018 New Home will end its season at the home of the Express.
The Leopards can thank their bullpen depth for getting them there.
“(Tom Bean is) a good-hitting team,” Webb said. “We knew they were gonna hit. But we were throwing strikes, giving us a chance. That’s the difference. We threw strikes, and they struggled a little bit at times.”
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: New Home baseball shows pitching depth to clinch semifinal series
Reporting by Stephen Garcia, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
