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Raising the status quo: Panthers make postseason and then some in 2012
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
Every year, the standard remains the same for Plano East baseball: make the playoffs.
Emerge as one of the district's four finalists and see what happens from there.
"We expect every year to get into the playoffs," said Travis Collins, East head coach, "regardless of what we have coming back or what other people perceive about what we have coming back.
While the bi-district round has been unkind to the Panthers in recent years, East flipped that script in 2012 for its deepest postseason run since 2009 -- a stretch that seemed both in doubt and feasible at different stages of the season.
Laden in a slew of inclines and declines befitting a heart monitor, East weathered the brunt of a tournament campaign that dealt them a 4-7-1 record entering district.
"We play a very tough tournament schedule to prepare ourselves for district," Collins said. "It's kind of a thinning out process where we figure out who we're going to go with during district and then make some subtle changes.
"We knew we had a good baseball team if we played well."
A 1-2 start to District 8-5A, including an 11-1 loss to Allen on March 21, did little to quell concern.
Forty-eight hours later, a switch flipped and East found itself at the start of a 10-game winning streak.
"It was a thing where we had our backs up against the wall," Collins said. "We were 6-9-1 and had to do something drastic to turn things around, but that run was a credit to our players and their ability to step up."
A spurt that spanned March 23-April 14, the Panthers allowed just 2.4 runs per game and committed 0.5 errors per contest during that stretch. The result vaulted the Panthers into first place entering the home stretch of the district calendar.
"The biggest catalyst during that streak was we pitched extremely well and played really good defense," Collins said. "When you do those two things, you have a chance to win a lot of ballgames."
Credit junior Ryan Boucher, senior Brandon Johnson and senior Alex Stuart with the lion's share of the mound work, with Boucher and Johnson settling into a viable 1-2 pitching punch and Stuart taking the reins as closer. Elsewhere, senior Clark Kahawaii anchored the offense and the defense at catcher while junior Nick Ramos' speed persistently kept opposing defenses off kilter. Contributions from varsity newcomers in senior Sam Lane, sophomore James Rudkin and junior Ryan Kravik were also of note.
But for the good times that encompassed plenty of East's 8-5A campaign, a 1-3 stretch to close district surrendered a potential 8-5A crown to Plano Senior and nudged the team into the playoffs as the district's No. 3 seed.
That late-season malaise meant little when the playoffs fired up as the Panthers advanced to the regional quarterfinals in a postseason that included no shortage of drama.
"It was fun," Collins said. "We expect to play deep into the season and we've had our moments where we've had first-round exits, but extending it out a bit more this year was a great time. The kids played extremely hard."
With their backs seemingly glued to the wall, the Panthers won four elimination games, including an upset of Colleyville Heritage -- a top 10 team in the state at the time.
That meant hearkening back to the formula behind the team's winning streak, with contributions on the hill from Boucher, Rudkin and Stuart complemented by timely hitting from senior Jacob Boucher and a gutsy effort by an injured Kahawaii. A somewhat controversial Game 3 loss to L.D. Bell closed East's season on a sour note but didn't deter what the players had accomplished -- chiefly a senior class with plenty of tenure.
"Anytime you have a senior class like this that makes so many huge contributions, we're going to miss all of them," Collins said. "Clark Kahawaii was our captain behind the plate and Brandon threw some huge games for us.
"When you look back at teams that did well in the playoffs, they have a senior class that has really good leadership skills and this was one of them."
It's all the more encouraging when there's plenty to build around in the years ahead. And with a litany of infielders, plus Kravik in the outfield and Ryan returning on the mound, the Panthers enter the offseason with plenty to aspire toward.
"You always feel comfortable as a coach if you can get five or six kids out of a class that can help," Collins said. "That way you're not having to retool every year. Having those guys back is big and we've also got some guys who haven't had much playing time and will need to step up next year, plus some guys off our JV.
"We've got a pretty good grasp for what's going on with those guys and we expect good things from them too."
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