The Diamond Coyotes saw their season come to an end this week with losses in the Class 3A District 14 tournament. The double-elimination tournament saw them lose to Dickson County and Northwest.

Wednesday, May 1

The Coyotes dropped a 15-13 slugfest to the home Cougars. Cougar pitching held the Coyotes scoreless over the first four innings, while the Cougar offense jumped out to a 7-0 lead.

In the top of the fifth inning, Coyote bats came alive, scoring six runs in the frame. Sophomore Shaun Chumled was hit by a pitch, followed by a freshman David Noriega walk. After a wild pitch moved the runners, sophomore Alik George scored Chumley on a sacrifice fly.

A series of hits by senior Nate Lucas, junior Dante Castro, and senior Diego Silva led to three more Coyote runs. Sophomore Leo Muniz’s ground out allowed Silva to score. A Cougar error led to another run. The Coyotes were back in the game.

George relieved starter Noriega but surrendered five runs as the Cougars pushed their lead back to 12-6. Two errors, two walks and two hit batters allowed the Cougars to score all five unearned runs.

The Coyotes jumped right back into it in the sixth inning, scoring seven runs. The squad batted around in the inning, putting together six singles, two walks and a hit batter. Noriega was thrown out a home to end the frame. The Coyotes took the lead 13-12.

They could not protect the lead, however. In the bottom of the sixth, Muniz came on to pitch and walked the first two batters. Silva relieved him, giving up a single to load the bases for the Cougars. A sacrifice fly tied the game with two outs. A wild pitch score the go-ahead run for Cougars and ground ball scored another, giving the Cougars a 15-13 lead going into the top of the seventh inning.

After two quick outs, freshman Aiden Urdiales drew a walk, but sophomore Victor Bell popped out to second, ending the contest.

Thursday, May 2

In a quick turnaround game, the Coyotes faced Northwest, whom they had defeated by one run in each of their previous games.

This time, the Vikings jumped out to a 6-0 lead after the first and never looked back. Senior pitcher Andres Garcia-Ortez went four and one-third inning, surrendering 1o hits and eight runs (seven earned).

The Coyotes answered with a single run in the bottom of the first and another in the second but could never get their bats going. The squad mustered only five hits in the game. Muniz doubled and Lucas tripled.

The Vikings added two more runs in the fifth and one in the seventh for the final margin.

The Coyotes complete their season with an 11-14 overall record.