At different times he impressed onlookers at Fort Worth’s LaGrave Field by chasing down long fly balls, sprinting to the left-center gap to make a diving catch, and firing an in-the-air strike to cut down a runner at home plate.
But now, in the top of the 10th inning against No. 1-ranked Howard College on Thursday afternoon, Zentek looked as though he didn’t want to get up.
Despite Zentek’s all-out, sprawling effort to catch Runey Davis’ smash to the warning track in deep right-center, the ball deflected off of his outstretched glove for a double that drove in Andrew Collazo with what proved to be the winning run in the 58-1 Hawks’ 4-3 victory over the No. 20 Leopards in the Region V championship game.
As Howard’s, shall we say, confident players celebrated wildly around the plate, Zentek seemingly couldn’t bring himself to get up and return to his position. For what seemed like an eternity, his knees remained on the ground and his head remained bowed.
He didn’t want to see Collazo score. He didn’t want to see Howard’s go-ahead run go on the board. He didn’t want TC to lose to a team it beat 8-2 less than 24 hours earlier to stop its perfect season. And, most important, he didn’t want the Leopards’ successful, memorable season to end.
Immediately after Temple finished as the Region V runner-up and with a 44-16 record, Zentek answered several of this reporter’s questions but clearly didn’t want to talk about the one catch he couldn’t quite make but clearly thought he should have made. Dejected, he was standing alone and still staring at the area where that diving attempt happened.
It then occurred to me that his high level of focus, determination and expectations is exactly why coach Craig McMurtry’s sophomore-powered Leopards had such a stellar run in 2009.
They didn’t really care that Howard - a very good, very balanced squad - brought a 54-0 record and the No. 1 national ranking into the eight-team, double-elimination regional tournament.
They knew that they had earned their first Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference championship since TC revived its baseball program in 1999, compiling a 24-8 record in league play.
They knew they had the pitching, defense, hitting and coaching to advance to the Junior College World Series in Grand Junction, Colo., for the second time in four seasons.
And they knew they could beat Howard, having ridden Paul Spinn’s valiant six-hitter on two days of rest to an 8-2 domination of the Hawks on Wednesday night to stave off elimination after Howard popped TC 11-3 a day earlier.
Even with an extremely depleted pitching staff Thursday, usual closer Sam Cordero threw 5 1/3 effective innings and Temple stayed right with Howard before taking a 3-2 lead into the top of the ninth. A one-out home run spoiled it, but in the bottom half the Leopards had a prime opportunity to slay the Hawks and reach the World Series.
TC loaded the bases with one out and needed only a hit, a fly ball deep enough or maybe even a grounder slow enough to bring home the winning run. But a textbook double-play grounder erased that threat and Howard did what it needed to do in the 10th to keep its season alive.
The Leopards had a lot to like this year:
n The lights-out pitching of 11-2 Holland product Spinn (including a no-hitter), 11-0 left-hander Lee Colon and freshman standout Tyler Grygar under McMurtry’s guidance.
n The relentless run production of NTJCAC Player of the Year Ryan Meade, Michael De La Rosa and Darren Crabtree, among several others.
n The incredible range and quick release of second baseman Michael Haynes at the regional tournament, which he attributed to his defensive skills work with TC assistant coach Frank Kellner.
But perhaps most of all, these Leopards had Zentek’s go-for-it, never-satisfied spirit. That was evident as Howard celebrated while Temple’s disappointed, exhausted players looked on.
And that spirit carried them a long way.
gwille@temple-telegram.com
