SEMINOLE — Hawley left-hander Westyn Balch continued his postseason brilliance on Thursday, delivering his third complete game shutout in five playoff starts to pitch the Bearcats to a 2-0 win over New Home in the weather-delayed opener of the Region I-2A finals series at Robert Ryan Baseball Field.

Balch, who lowered his playoff ERA to 1.06 with the win, allowed just one seventh-inning hit to outduel New Home starter Ashton Lucio in a game that was delayed 3½ hours by a severe thunderstorm that produced baseball-size hail in nearby Denver City. 

Taking advantage of a two-run rally in the top of the seventh sparked by teammate Alek Southerland’s one-out double to the left-center field gap, Hawley’s senior ace pitched around a leadoff single and a one-out walk in the home half of that inning to close the complete game gem with his 11th strikeout on his 113th pitch of the night. It came around 12:30 a.m., capping a tidy pitcher’s duel that took just two hours to complete.