PALESTINE - Woodlawn’s bid for a ninth consecutive trip to the state championship game came to a close this past Friday when the Riverside Rebels scored five runs in the eighth inning to knock off the Bears, 5-0, in the Class 2A quarterfinals at Palestine-Wheatley High School.Woodlawn finished the year with a 29-6 record after winning both the regular season and 8-2A District Tournament championships. The Bears also won the Class 2A Region 4 Tournament, which they hosted.Excluding the 202o baseball season that was canceled due to the COVID pandemic, the Bears had made the state championship game for eight consecutive seasons between 2016 and 2024. Woodlawn was 6-2 in those title games.This was the second time for the Bears and Rebels to meet this year after Riverside beat Woodlawn 5-1 in a non-conference matchup at Riverside on March 15. The two schools also met in a 2024 quarterfinal game with the Bears squeezing out a 1-0 win in that one also played at Palestine-Wheatley.The game turned into a pitching duel between Bears’ starter Mason Edmonds and the Rebs’ Bryce Smith. Smith gave up just one hit and walked three over six-and-2/3rds innings before giving way to reliever Cash Gillis, who ended up earning the win.Edmonds pitched all seven innings of regulation, scattering two hits without a walk while striking out three. But he began to run into some trouble at the start of the eighth.After getting Riverside’s lead-off batter to ground out for the first out, the next three batters singled to load the bases. Woodlawn Coach Tommy Richardson then brought in Tate Hall for relief. Hall, however, hit the next batter to score the game’s first run, and that was followed by a single that brought in one more and kept the bases full.A walk forced in another run before the Rebels scored on a passed ball making it 4-0. Riverside’s final run came after a fly ball allowed the runner to tag up to push...
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