By James LaCombe

The (Galveston) Daily News

MADISONVILLE — In a series with so many delays, cancelations and schedule/venue changes, of course it took extra innings to decide the final game.

Second baseman Chase Daugherty batted in the game-winning run in the top of the eighth inning, and starting pitcher Jacob Blankenship battled for a complete-game win on the mound in Santa Fe’s 2-1 victory against Port Neches-Groves on Monday in the deciding third game of the teams’ 5A Region III area round playoff series.

Santa Fe moves on the the regional quarterfinals, where the team will face Crosby in a best-of-three-game series.

As the area round series taught, though, the games will go on as scheduled if the weather permits.

With Monday’s game tied 1-1, Santa Fe shortstop David Reyna led off the top of the eighth by working a full-count walk. After back-to-back balks put Reyna on third base, Daugherty came through by sending a single through the left side of the infield to give Santa Fe the 2-1 advantage.

“I had been hitting ground balls all day, and I was waiting for one to go right where I needed it,” Daugherty said. “I had to do it, because Jake was up there pitching his butt off and I had to do it for my team. I can’t give up. It’s my senior year, so I thought, ‘Why not me? Why not us?’”

Things got tense for Santa Fe in the bottom half of the eighth as a runner got into scoring position with one out after Port Neches-Groves first baseman Adam Morse scorched a ground-rule double to right field.

However in the next at-bat, second baseman Logan Lejeune lined out to shortstop, and Morse was caught off the second base bag for a game-ending double play.

A pitchers’ duel throughout, it took Port Neches-Groves nearly six innings to get to Blankenship, tying the game up at 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth with starting pitcher Carter Henry knocking in left fielder Cole Girouard (lead-off single) with a clutch two-out single.

Blankenship twice worked out of two-on, one-out jams to keep Santa Fe in the game.

In the bottom of the fifth, PN-G put runners on with a single from right fielder Ryan Leckich and a walk drawn by shortstop Nathan Vidrine, but a flyout to center field and a strikeout ended the frame.

In the bottom of the seventh with the pressure cranked up even higher, a single by third baseman Austin Bost and a bloop single from Vidrine put Blankenship in another tough situation, but he sat PN-G down on a grounder to first base and another strikeout.

Santa Fe drew first blood with a run in the top of the first. Reyna led off the game with a single, and after a sacrifice bunt by Daugherty, an error and a strikeout, catcher Josh Blankenship knocked in Reyna on a two-out single through the left side of the infield.

Santa Fe missed a chance to pad its lead early, though, as the team eventually loaded the bases but left all three runners stranded.

After that, Henry settled into a groove for PNG, retiring 16 Santa Fe batters in a row until a Josh Blankenship lead-off single in the top of the seventh broke up the hitting drought.

Santa Fe barely missed out on a chance to get the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh. Courtesy runner Jeremy Hughes reached third base, and left fielder Wade Perkins reached first safely on a two-out swinging strike and passed ball.

In the next at-bat, first baseman Kevin Baker appeared to beat out a bobbled, sharply-hit grounder to shortstop, but was ruled out on the bang-bang play.

Jacob Blankenship scattered seven hits in eight innings on the mound, with one earned run, five strikeouts and one walk. Despite going the extra inning, he still kept his pitch count down to a relatively low 92.

Santa Fe was held to four hits, led by Josh Blankenship’s 2-for-4, one RBI effort. Reyna scored both of Santa Fe’s runs.

Henry was tagged with the loss for PN-G despite the strong effort. He threw eight innings with four hits, two earned runs, one walk and 11 strikeouts.

Leckich was the only PN-G player to record a multi-hit game, finishing 2 for 3.

And with that, the seemingly never-ending series ends.

Game 2 was originally scheduled for Friday night at Baytown Sterling, was temporarily moved to Nederland on Friday before being canceled and rescheduled for Saturday afternoon at Crosby.

After PN-G forced a Game 3, inclement weather moved into Crosby, leaving coaches to attempt to move the game to Pearland before canceling it and moving to Monday afternoon at Jasper.

When weather in Jasper did not cooperate, Monday’s game was moved to later in the afternoon at Madisonville.

In all, the round trips Friday, Saturday and Monday from Santa Fe High School to Baytown Sterling to Nederland back to Santa Fe to Crosby to Pearland back to Santa Fe to Jasper to Madisonville back to Santa Fe equalled approximately 770 miles on the road — roughly the same distance as a one-way drive to El Paso.

If Santa Fe achieves the dream of reaching state, luckily the round trip to the Dell Diamond is only about 438 miles, weather permitting.