Tigers fall to Bushland in Bi-District series sweep

By Jacob Chavarria

Slatonite Correspondent

The Slaton Tigers fell to the Bushland Falcons in Bi-District play ending their season.

It was their first playoff appearance since 2018.

The Tigers dropped game one 7-2 on Friday (May 7) and after rain rolled through the Amarillo area, a wet field forced game two to be played Saturday (May 8) in Littlefield.

In game two the Tigers fell 8-1 to the Falcons.

In spite of two tough losses that knocked the Tigers out of the playoffs, Coach Dilon Chancellor said that getting the team the experience of the playoffs was great, and he hopes they can build off of it.

“Great season-it’s the first time we made the playoffs since 2018. Hats off to those kids. They got a little bit of taste of it and those younger guys stepped up and got them a taste of the playoffs,” he said.

“But now we got to make goals and goals past just getting into the playoffs. We have to give ourselves an opportunity to go make noise when we get in.”

After falling in game one and having to wait for game two, Eli Perez had the ball in his hands as he worked against the Falcons offense.

Perez went five and one thirds innings gathering six strikeouts and allowed four runs with two being earned runs.

Offensively, the Tigers were able to score their lone run in the sixth.

After a single put CJ Anzley aboard, an error scored Anzley from first.

“We faced a team that was more consistent than us and did the little things right, even when things were going bad and they came out on top. That’s the way it goes but now we know what we need to work on and we’re all just going to go back, we’re going to reevaluate ourselves as coaches and a staff,” said Chancellor.

“We’re going to figure out what we need to do to get those little things fixed and make us more consistent as a baseball team.”

The Tigers ended their season with a 7-21 overall record and a 5-5 District record.

Despite 28 total games being played by the Tigers, Chancellor thanked his team for their hard work they put in throughout the season.

“I just want to say once again just thanks to the seniors, and all the rest of the guys for grinding it out through the season. We had our times where we had ups and downs you know really high’s and really lows, but we found a way to come together there towards the back end of the season and get in the playoffs,” he said.

Chancellor was not only proud of his team but was also appreciative for the support from the community.

“(I’m) proud of the kids’ and just thankful for the support of the coach’s wives, the town, the community, student body, teachers and everybody for sticking behind us. They continued to trust in the process and stick by our side and hopefully we gave them a show towards the back end,” he said. “I’m just thankful for the opportunity to be able to coach those kids and coach along alongside two great coaches.”