ODESSA, Texas — Two Texas high schools needed 23 innings, played over two days, to decide one of the longest games in prep sports history.
Midland outlasted Odessa 4-3, with the teams finishing Saturday after starting the night before. The teams combined to throw 602 pitches and spend more than 6 1/2 hours on the field.
The game is believed to be the longest ever played in Texas and among the seven longest in the United States, according to online records from the National Federation of State High School Associations.
Two games, one in Hawaii in 1967 and the other in California in 1975, share the high school mark of 25 innings.
Kamehameha and McKinley in Honolulu played 25 innings with Kamehameha winning 9-7. Hayward and San Lorenzo in California also played 25 innings with Hayward winning 2-1.
Two games went 24 innings, leaving the Midland-Odessa contest tied for third with two others.
The game, which began at Odessa, was called Friday night with Midland ahead 3-2 in the top of the 14th inning due to darkness. When it resumed Saturday at Midland's home field, Odessa tied it up and the extra innings continued.
It finally ended in the 23rd. Midland's Wyatt Krueger put down a squeeze bunt for a single to score Jacoby Dutchover. Midland held Odessa scoreless in the bottom half to win more than 25 hours after the game began.
The teams followed the marathon with a second, regularly scheduled game, which Midland won in extras as well — 4-3 in eight innings.
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