Rupp has Deer Park thinking deeper

Although he is in his third year as Deer Park's baseball coach, Chris Rupp has fond memories of the last time the Deer played this deep into the playoffs, which was 25 years ago.

Rupp was the coaching at North Shore in 1990 when he lost to Deer Park, which was led by a senior pitcher named Andy Pettitte.

Pettitte's amassed all 256 of his big league wins between then and now, a span that also encompassed the entire lives of every player on the Deer Park roster. Needless to say, it's a good feeling for the Deer to be back in the regional semifinals.

Deer Park (31-3-1) will face Cypress Ranch in a one-game playoff at 8 p.m. Friday at Rice's Reckling Field.

"For the school and community this is huge," Rupp said. "The fans get behind us. It's an exciting time."

Like the 1990 team, this year's Deer Park squad has great pitching. Tyler Smith and Cameron Thompson are the top two starters. Smith had a good breaking ball when he got to the varsity team last season but has added velocity to his fast ball. Rupp praised his mentality on the mound, too.

The same goes for Thompson, who is known for his competitiveness. When he doesn't pitch he plays shortstop. If one of them is not getting it done, Rupp trusts Carson DeShazo the most. DeShazo has gotten Deer Park out of many sticky situations.

The Deer have allowed zero runs in 13 games this season, including last week's series opener against Clear Springs. That's more than one-third of their games.

"Our pitching has given us a chance every time out," Rupp said. "They haven't given up many runs at all. We swing the bat pretty good. I feel like we're going to score and if we can hold the other team down to a couple of runs I feel like we have a pretty good chance win."

With such a gaudy record it has been rare for Deer Park to feel like it has a hill to climb during many games. That changed Saturday in the decisive game against Clear Springs. Clear Springs jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the top of the third inning.

Rather than letting the moment get to them, the Deer rallied from behind. The biggest helper in that reguard was Ruben Almaguer, who hit two home runs in the late innings of their 9-3 victory.

"They showed a lot of character," Rupp said. "(After they hit that home run) we came right back and scored one in the first. It showed confidence in their ability to play from behind. They didn't feel like we were out of it at all."

This season has been full of confidence. It began with eight-straight wins, that included seven shutouts. The Deer have won 22 of their last 23 games.

Rupp said he thought his team would be good this season, but he never envisioned 31 wins with at least one more to go.

"You don't get this far without being a pretty good club," Rupp said. "You have to have some breaks and get the big hits. We've been fortunate to do that."