Hello playoffs!: Little Elm defeats Braswell, clinches 1st playoff berth since 2019

Fast-forward to Friday night, when the Lobos replaced that memory of heartbreak with one of joy.

As Harbin walked to the mound following Little Elm’s 5-1 home victory against Denton Braswell, he received a text message saying that McKinney Boyd had defeated Prosper Rock Hill, 1-0. He broke the news of making the playoffs to his players at the pitcher’s mound.

Little Elm came into Friday needing a win and either a loss by Prosper or Rock Hill to clinch its first playoff berth since 2019. There is a chance that Little Elm (8-4 District 5-6A) and Rock Hill (6-6) can finish with the same district record, but because the Lobos finished 2-0 against the Blue Hawks, Little Elm won the head-to-head tiebreaker.

How does it feel to make the playoffs for the first time in four years and first time as a Class 6A school, coach Harbin?

“Pretty freaking phenomenal,” he said. “It’s been a few years and we’ve been pushing for this. We got so close last year. Man, it’s awesome.”

The Lobos’ pitching staff is a big reason why the team is bound for the playoffs.

Junior Caden Richardson has been clutch all season and was again Friday, tossing 6.1 innings with four hits and one run against seven strikeouts before junior Roman Robinson came in and polished off Braswell to earn the save. 

“He does a great job of bending but not breaking,” Harbin said of Richardson. “The next step for him will be to where he can command the zone a little better and stay out of the two-ball, three-ball counts, especially with how much he is throwing. He does a great job of not letting things like that bother him, and it also helps to have a guy in center field that can make plays.”

Three days after committing five errors in a 7-4 loss to Braswell, Little Elm’s defense was on point Friday.

The defensive play of the game was made by junior center fielder Kendyl Johnson. The Bengals loaded the bases with one out in the top of the sixth after recording two singles and a walk. A fly ball hit by Bengals senior Daxton Macias appeared it was going to travel over Johnson’s head. A run scored on the play, but it could have been more had it not been for some great range showed by the reigning 5-6A defensive player of the year.

“It’s not surprising to us because we see it every day in practice,” Harbin said. “He does something like that in practice when we’re having our competitive batting practice, and he’s come up huge with a ton of catches like that in a game. He’s phenomenal. He also had the clutch hit with the bases loaded that extended our lead. He’s starting to come into a zone.”

Little Elm took a 1-0 lead when junior Dylan Terry clubbed a solo home run over the left-field wall in the bottom of the first.

“It’s awesome for him because he was struggling a little bit early in district,” Harbin said. “It was really that grand slam at Rock Hill that got him his confidence back. He’s been hitting the ball well. It wasn’t that he was hitting the ball bad. He was just hitting it straight at them. He works really hard in getting a lot of force in the ball, but he’s also been an incredible defender for us this year. He’s one of our guys that we’re counting on moving forward.”

Braswell senior Wesley Grant wasn’t rattled by Terry’s home run. He followed with two straight scoreless innings to keep it a one-run ballgame.

However, the wheels started to fall off for the Bengals in the fourth inning. After Edward Chavez singled to lead off the frame and Richardson followed with a walk, Roman Robinson was next to come up to bat. Robinson showed bunt. Braswell twice came close to picking off Chavez, but not long after, a passed ball allowed the two base runners to move to third and second bases.

It was just the start of a big inning for Little Elm. Robinson walked to load the bases and junior Ben Heathcock then drew a four-pitch walk for a 2-0 Lobos lead. Junior Diego Reyes followed with an RBI single. Johnson proceeded to blow the game open with a two-run double for a 5-0 lead.