Wakeland High School is a 5A is a sports powerhouse located in Frisco, Texas about 25 miles north of Dallas. Wakeland has gotten lots of news this year from several sports throughout the school. Cross country took fourth in the state finals, football went three rounds deep in playoffs for the first time ever, soccer won a state championship, softball went three rounds deep in playoffs, and volleyball also went three rounds deep in playoffs to cap off a great season. You may look at these and think, wow, this school has very good teams, but I haven’t even told you about who most consider the best team in the school. What sport is this you may ask? Baseball. Its Wakeland baseball.
You might think to yourself and say “But soccer won a state championship, how much better can you get?” Well I’m gonna tell you how, it’s pretty insane what this team is doing.
Let’s start with pre district tournaments. Wakeland went an incredible 16-2-1 in tournament play while being crowned champions in “The Tournament of Champions”. They came out of tournament play with an astounding run differential of 129 runs scored to 46 runs given up. That’s what you get when you have high powered offense paired with elite defense and stellar pitching.
Next in the season for the Wolverines came district play. This year's district run for the Wolverines was 99% perfect. Wakeland started off districts a perfect 6-0 record, with some pretty close games, with a pair of 4-2 games and a single 4-1 game.
They then took their first and lone loss of districts, to Frisco High, 3-2. After this loss, Wakeland took it personally and came out the next two weeks and outscored their opponents 29-3 over the next four games. They then had a close game of 2-1, but still got the win. They finished strong with the last two games of the season with a 12-2 and a 11-1 win.
The Wolverines finished district play 13-1, while outscoring opponents an unthinkable 137-18. They were surging into playoffs and had all the confidence in the world.
Their first playoff matchup (Bi-District) would be a best of three game series against The Colony High School. They would have no trouble as they swept them with the scores of 14-7 and 3-0. The Wolverines brought out the bats on Thursday to earn the win and brought out fantastic defense and a complete game shutout by Cooper Chandler on Friday to punch their ticket to the next round. The Wolverin’s next series (Area) would be facing Sulphur Springs where the Wolverines would flex their muscles once again offensively and defensively just this time together in the same games. They would again sweep their opponent with the scores of 6-0 and a mercy rule of 10-0.
Their next opponent would be the toughest they had faced yet, Prosper. Wakeland knew it would be tough as Prosper is notorious for knocking Wakeland out of the baseball playoffs several times in the recent years. Lots of people were saying the Prosper curse was going to strike again but the Wakeland players would have none of it. The Wolverines would once again sweep the series (Regional Quarterfinals) but this time there was much more of a fight. The scores would end up being 7-4 and 2-1 but nonetheless got the wins.
Next would be the Regional Semifinals against Cleburne High School where Wakeland would experience their first hiccup in the postseason. Their first game was an extremely emotional one for the players, coaches, and even fans. Cleburne carried a 3-1 lead late into the game but Wakeland would eventually walk off Cleburne in the bottom half of a wild seventh inning. The game would end 4-3 in favor of Wakeland. The next day a similar game would occur between the two. Wakeland would hold a 6-0 lead but Cleburne would surge late and actually win the game with a score of 7-6. Game 3 the next day would be a loser goes home scenario and Wakeland knew this.
As Wakeland junior second baseman Griffin Wright said, “We have worked way too hard this season to go home now”. Obviously the rest of the team also realized this and came out the next day and wouldn’t even give Cleburne a chance. Cooper Chandler dissected the Cleburne lineup with another complete game shutout en route to a mercy rule win with a score of 10-0.
Wakeland is now facing Mansfield Legacy in the regional finals. The Wolverines won the opener of the series, 6-4, and need one game on Saturday, June 3. According to MaxPreps, Wakeland is currently ranked #2 in the state of Texas and an astounding #9 nationally. Both of these rankings are record highs for the program. This just shows you how powerful they really are how much attention they are getting.
The Wolverines are red hot and don’t seem to slowing down anytime soon. The team themselves seem to have the same mentality.
Freshman catcher Trenton Massey states, “Our ultimate goal is to win the state championship, nothing less. Rankings don’t matter. All that matters is winning that title."
Just as Massey does, Wakeland has one thing in their sights and it is winning the first state title in program history.
