With two triples hit and three runs scored in the first inning alone, Thursday night's area-round matchup between Memorial and Cypress Creek was on track to be a great game.

The sixth inning was the magic inning for the visiting Mustangs as they broke a 3-3 tie to win 5-3.

“It was a great team effort tonight,” Memorial leftfielder Ben Sample said. “We played really hard tonight. It was just a good overall effort.”

Michael Ratterree hit a two-out triple in the top of the first, knocking in catcher M.P. Cokinos. The Mustangs went down one run after Cy Creek had their first at bat, knocking in two runs.

Eric Weiss pulled out a triple after bouncing the ball off the top of the fence, scoring Matt Adams. Weiss scored later in the inning, giving the Cougars an early one-run lead.

DeMario Thibodeaux answered with a two-run homerun in the top of three to once again take the lead. But the Cougars weren’t quiet for long. In the bottom of the fourth, Weiss got his second RBI of the night, hitting in Austin Pugliese.

And then the magic happened. Kyle Guest walked and Wayne Taylor sacrificed him to second. Noel Adams put himself and Guest in scoring position.

With one out, Sample came to the plate and ripped the ball down first base line to score Guest and Adams. Sample’s hit ending up being the game winning hit as the Cougars couldn’t produce any more runs.

“I just saw it and hit it,” Sample said. “It just so happened that it went well.”

“The bottom-of-the-order guys came through,” Memorial coach Jeremy York said. “Anybody can do it and tonight it was the bottom of the order.”

With Game 1 under their belt, the Mustangs will host Cy Creek Friday night for Game 2 of the best-of-three game series. Game 3, if necessary, will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Morton Ranch.

“Our game plan is to play it pitch-by-pitch, out-by-out, and game-by-game,” York said.

“We’re going to give them a taste of what they got today,” Sample said.

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