Photos: New Braunfels beats Dripping Springs on walk-off balk in 8th inning

Tigers’ season comes to an end in heartbreaking fashion

Dripping Springs relief pitcher Tristan Ciechanowicz (12) delivers a pitch during a Class 6A area playoff with New Braunfels on Saturday, May 11, 2024 at Jaguar Field at Buda Johnson High School in Buda, Texas. (Michael Adams/Austin Sports Journal)

By Michael Adams
madams@austinsportsjournal.com

BUDA – For the second time in their best-of-three area playoff, New Braunfels and Dripping Springs needed extra innings to decide the winner.

And for the second time in an extra innings game, the Unicorns (30-7-1) came out victorious.

New Braunfels beat the Tigers 7-6 in eight innings on Saturday in a deciding Game 3 at Buda Johnson High School in Buda Texas. The Unicorns plated the game-winning run on a called balk on Dripping Springs relief pitcher Tristan Ciechanowicz in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Coming off a 4-0 win Friday night in Game 2 at home, Dripping Springs (25-11) kept the momentum going with a four-run first inning. New Braunfels chipped away at the lead with a run in the bottom of the first and third inning before tying the game in the fourth.

The Tigers retook the lead in the top of the sixth inning, but the Unicorns took it back in the bottom of the sixth. Dripping Springs tied the game in the top of the seventh and held the Unicorns from scoring in the bottom half of the inning.

Here are photos from Saturday’s area playoff game:

[To view the photo gallery, click the first photo and hit the next arrow to scroll through the photos]