ABILENE — Entering the bottom of the seventh inning with a tenuous lead after Westbrook had put up back-to-back three-run rallies to trim an 8-2 deficit to a single run, the May Tigers turned to Hagan Hester to slam the door on their one-game Region I-1A quarterfinal playoff with the Wildcats on Saturday at Abilene Christian High School’s Hudson Wade Memorial Field. 

The senior left-hander did so … emphatically. 

Tabbed with closing out a back-and-forth affair that had seen both games wrestle control and momentum away from the other over its duration, Hester needed just 11 pitches — 10 of those strikes — to put the finishing touches on a hard-fought 9-8 win and help the Tigers advance to the Region I-1A semifinals next week to take on unbeaten Ira.