Cy Springs

Jersey Village – As 500th career victories go, Tom McPherson’s was rather unceremonious. His Katy Tigers methodically dispatched their hosts, Jersey Village, 6-0, in a game that felt more like a scrimmage than it did opening day of the season. When it was over, there was no media blitz and no trophy ceremony. The humble, easy-going skipper sort of moseyed over to me, the lone media representative at the game, and said, “I don’t know what to say really. It’s neat, but it’s just numbers.”

Despite the lack of glitz surrounding McPherson’s accomplishment, it was special – both to him and to his players. He has served as head coach at Katy for 19 of his 26 years in coaching and in that time, he has made the Tiger program one of the most consistently successful in the brutally-competitive Greater Houston area.

“The kids are the ones who win the ballgames,” he said. “There are guys I’ve been coaching against who have 1,000. Bobby Moegle had 1,200 something. I don’t know if I can live that long.

“It’s nice to win it and get it out of the way. Now we can focus on some baseball.”

That did not seem to be an issue for the top-ranked Tigers in this one, although the action was about as intense as two old men playing a game of checkers. Katy was efficient on the mound, with four different pitchers combining on the shutout, giving up just five hits and striking out 11.

The Tigers got the scoring started quick when leadoff man Bret Atwood reached on an error and then came in to score on Carter Jurica’s double in the top of the first. Nick Pepitone added to the lead in the second when he got an elevated fastball and blasted it over the wall in left for a solo homerun.

The game was quiet for the next two frames before the Tigers got going again in the fifth. After Atwood grounded out to first to start the frame, six straight Katy hitters stepped to the plate and delivered singles. The third came off the bat of Pepitone and drove in both Jurica and Michael Fuda to push Katy’s lead out to 4-0.

The Tigers rounded out the scoring with a two-run seventh. Fuda reached on an infield single for the second straight at-bat and advanced to second on a throwing error from the third baseman. Andrew Stumph then tripled to straightaway center field, and Pepitone drove him home with a Texas Leaguer to center – Pepitone’s fourth RBI of the game.

“They were kind of flat for a first game, I thought,” McPherson said. “Jersey Village is a young team, and I think our kids knew they were playing freshmen and sophomores. I don’t think they came up there with the mindset to really get after it.

“There were some bright spots, but I guess you kind of get spoiled. Last year, the kids played pretty hard and got after it. They came out a little flat tonight. To expect the intensity of the state championship game was a little foolish on my part, but they will focus a little bit harder and focus a little bit harder on playing with some more intensity the next time out.”

By Jason Becker