ROUND ROCK – Waxahachie finally ran out of rope.

"Hold the Rope" had become Waxahachie's motto throughout the playoffs, but the rope was snapped in the fifth inning of the UIL Class 4A state baseball final Thursday.

Corpus Christi Calallen (42-1) scored eight runs in the fifth inning to run-rule Waxahachie, 11-1, at Dell Diamond.

Calallen sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning while cranking out five hits and taking advantage of four errors by Waxahachie (32-9).

"The most disappointing thing was we didn't come out and play our best baseball," Waxahachie senior Boomer Collins said. "It was disappointing for your last game of your high school career to come out and play like this."

The big inning merely accelerated what had been a dominating performance by Calallen. Although Calallen's lead was just 3-1 through four innings, it had outhit Waxahachie, 8-2, and starting pitcher Jordan John was cruising.

John (11-1) struck out five and walked two in five innings. His only mistake was an outside fastball that Drew Harrison yanked down the right-field line for a home run.

Harrison's homer tied the score at 1-1 in the second inning. It was one of the few times Waxahachie benefited from the 41-mph gusts that toyed with fielders all game.

"It was just swirling," Harrison said. "My home run, it went foul and came back."

The wind helped Calallen take a 1-0 lead in the second when Roland Resendez's fly ball blew over the left-field fence.

"He hit a pop-up that went 375 feet," Waxahachie starter Marshall Davis said.

Another home run, this one a two-run shot into the bullpen in right field by Patrick Frasier, gave Calallen a 3-1 lead in the third. Frasier, who drove in two more in the fifth, was named championship game MVP.

Waxahachie used three pitchers in the fifth to try to stop Calallen. "Those guys are very potent offensively," Waxahachie coach Tracy Wood said.

ROUND ROCK – After battling through 12 playoff games to get to the state final, Waxahachie's shining moment was shortened to five innings Thursday. But maybe that was a good thing.

We didn't need the final two innings to determine that Corpus Christi Calallen was the best 4A team in the state. Waxahachie might be the toughest, but at Dell Diamond, talent overwhelmed grit.

"They showed up today," Waxahachie junior Colton Cain said, "and I guess we didn't."

The final score, 11-1, might make it look that way. And on a different day, Waxahachie (32-9) would probably extend the drama against Calallen (42-1), which finished the season with a 21-game winning streak.

But Waxahachie did show up for its first state final appearance since 1988. It's just that Calallen, a program that has been to the state tournament seven times in the last 10 years, also took the field.

"They can really swing it," senior Boomer Collins said. "They are a great baseball team. They are the best baseball team in the state."

The road to the state tournament showed it. Three of Waxahachie's four playoff rounds leading to Round Rock were best-of-3 series that went the distance. Calallen didn't lose a game and was challenged in only one series.

The key was having two dominant pitchers. The first, Logan Verrett, pitched a complete game in Wednesday's semifinal. The second, Jordan John, allowed only four hits to a Waxahachie team that was averaging nearly 10 runs per game in the playoffs.

Calallen used two pitchers in two days. Waxahachie, on the other hand, needed three to get through the top of the fifth, when Calallen scored eight runs to take the game from a nail-biter to run-rule territory. It was a long, painful inning for Waxahachie, whose four errors didn't help.

After the game, several players talked about the disappointment of not playing their best. But Waxahachie coach Tracy Wood said he had nothing negative to say. He talked about his team's toughness, which showed as it tried to rally with two outs in the fifth.

Derek Junkin and Collins singled to put a runner in scoring position, and Brad Davis then hit a sharp ground ball toward second base. Against most teams, it was a run-scoring single. But against Calallen, it was a game-ending groundout as shortstop Jeramie Marek made a sliding stop of the ball and threw to first.

Calallen players poured onto the field to celebrate the school's third state title, and Waxahachie players sat in the dugout disappointed.

But also proud.

"It's heartbreaking. But in a few weeks, we'll feel better," Collins said. "We made it to the final, and we competed as hard as we could in each game. You can't ask for more than that."