Playoff drama between Lake Travis, Hutto

Round Rock - After going seven innings with no score, it took a walk-off balk to decide a competitive one-game playoff between Lake Travis and Hutto.

Hutto sophomore pitcher Eythan Lenz threw a complete game in the 1-0 loss. In the 8th inning, officials charged Lenz with a balk when he looked at first and later threw, advancing Kevin Conroy for Lake Travis, who was on third base.

Hippos head coach Pete Schmidt said Lenz had a great performance in the game, despite the balk.

"You hate to see it come down to a situation like that," Schmidt said. "It's tough on the kid, but he's fine, he's a youngster and he's a sophomore, and as the season progressed our kids learned how to win."

The Cavaliers advance to the regional semifinal, where they will face Corpus Christi Calallen. Calallen eliminated the Cavs from playoff contention in 2008.

"I told Lenz he did a tremendous job keeping us off balance all day long," Lake Travis coach Roy Kinnan said. "We normally hit the ball very well. They play great defense; we played great defense; we had an opportunity in the 8th inning and we came out victorious."