In game three of the Chap’s first-round series against the Vandegrift Vipers, with the season on the line, the Chaps looked in control for a large portion of the game. Senior starting pitcher Luke Rafferty was dominating on the mound, and the offense was doing just enough to keep the Vipers at bay.

That flipped in the bottom of the seventh inning when the Vipers managed to surmount a 4-1 deficit, scoring three runs with two outs and sending the game to extra innings, putting the pressure on the Chaps offense.

The Chaps (19-18) defeated the Vandegrift Vipers (20-14) 8-4 to take game three of the series and finish off the Vipers for their second Bi-District championship May 2 at Vandegrift High School. The Chaps put up four runs in extra innings to move on to the next round.

“It’s the end of the season,” head coach Danny Wallace said. “You either perform or it’s over.”

From the jump in extra innings, the Chaps wiped their stalling offense from memory and returned to form. With runners on, junior outfielder Lane Johnson drove the ball off the outfield wall and cruised into second base, sending a spark into the crowd, as well as the rest of the offense. The chaos carried momentum and allowed them to finish the inning up 8-4, placing the pressure back on the Vipers.

“We just had to stay true to our plan,” Johnson said.

Throughout the season the pitching rotation has been plagued by injuries. With the bullpen spread thin across the three game series, they had to look to sophomore pitcher Nick Thompson in the bottom of the 8th to close out the game and keep their season alive.

Thompson delivered and went three up, three down, and brought the Chaps to an 8-4 win over the Vipers while establishing himself as a prominent figure within the bullpen for the rest of the playoffs.

They went on to win their next series against O’Connell, securing an Area Championship, but fell to Pharr-San Juan-Alamo in the regional semifinal for the second year running.